Treatment for short stature (Poor growth)

What treatment is available for short stature?

• Treatment depends upon the cause for short stature.
• Growth hormone is appropriate for some cases of short stature. Your doctor will discuss this with you in specific details if that is the case.
• If a child is discovered to have low thyroid hormones (hypothyroidism) treatment with thyroid hormones restores the growth.
• Counseling can help if your child is being teased about being short. Teasing can make a child feel ashamed.
• In constitutional short stature sex hormones are sometimes given to accelerate the onset of puberty. This is considered when the child is too upset by lack of physical development when compared to peers.
• If short stature is due to a disease, treatment of the disease (if available) may improve a child's growth.

What is growth hormone defeciency?

Growth hormone deficiency is lack of sufficient growth hormone in the body, which is one of the causes for short stature. Growth hormone is a protein that is naturally produced in the pituitary galnd in the brain. Growth hormone is responsible for normal, healthy growth in children. Children with growth hormone deficiency may be perfectly healthy otherwise. Sometimes growth hormone deficiency is part of a larger problem e.g. injury following a brain surgery. In all these children giving growth hormone restores the healthy growth and helps them attain their true height potential.

How is growth hormone defeciency treated?

The growth hormone used for treatment is manufactured by recombinant DNA technology. This so-called recombinant hormone is an exact copy of the growth hormone that is normally produced in the body. It does not carry any contamination risk unlike older methods using pituitary extracts. It must be given as a daily injection, usually at bedtime. It is injected by a pen similar to insulin which makes it virtually painless. Unfortunately it cannot be given as a pill because, it is a protein and gets destroyed by the digestive juices in the stomach.

Is growth hormone treatment safe? Is it used frequently?

Recombinant growth hormone is being widely used for more than 20 years. With proper diagnosis and expert monitoring side effects are rare and mild. Over a lakh patients are treated with growth hormone every year across the globe.

 Consult your Doctor to check "How well you are Growing?"