Pituitary dwarfism Symptoms and diagnosis
What is symptoms of pituitary dwarfism?
Primary pituitary dwarfism was particularly prevalent in boys, birth weight and length is often normal. Since 1 ~ 2 years, the beginning of the growth rate slowed down, stagnation is in early childhood. The more age, the more obvious lag, and its adult length also did not more than one hundred and thirty centimeters. But have normal mental development, children with pituitary dwarfism is smaller than the actual age, but the volume ratio of the upper and lower body is often similar to their actual age, so the ratio of the various parts of the development is still disproportionate. Patients with pituitary dwarfism have symptoms include less hair and soft, thin skin and creamy, often face childish than their actual age, narrow chest, hand, foot also smaller. Delay in the teeth, ossification growth retardation.
The majority of children have gonadal dysgenesis, the lack of secondary sexual characteristics at puberty, such as the male genitals are still small children, and quite common for cryptorchidism, such as child audio tone. Women often have primary amenorrhea, breast, buttocks are developed, is not characteristic of female adults, a small uterus, vulva, such as little girl. Thyroid, adrenocortical function is also often low, but often not obvious clinical symptoms.
Secondary pituitary dwarfism can occur at any age, after the disease began to slow down the growth and associated with symptoms of the primary disease. Patient with intracranial tumors have symptoms and signs include increased intracranial pressure and optic nerve compression, such as headache, vomiting, visual field defect or narrow, and even as a result of posterior pituitary or hypothalamic damage complicated by diabetes insipidus.
How is pituitary dwarfism diagnosis?
Diagnosis for pituitary dwarfism is primarily on the basis of physical examination and diagnostic tests. After 1 ~ 2 years the slow growth, body length less than three standard deviation of normal children.
Some tests use to diagnosed pituitary dwarfism:
1. X-ray examination shows Immature bone age.
2. Reduce the serum growth hormone levels, children patient is often less than 5 ng / ml.
3. Insulin hypoglycemia test, arginine load test is no response.
4. Patients with pituitary dwarfism is often accompanied by lack of thyroid-stimulating hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion, maybe increase serum cholesterol, serum T3 and T4 are at lower or edge level. Within Urine the 17 hydroxy and 17 ketones steroid are to reduce emissions.