children s health issues
Growth Hormone Deficiency in Children
Diagnosis of Growth Hormone Deficiency
A doctor's evaluation of growth criteria and past medical history of disorders known to cause slow growth X-rays Blood and other laboratory tests Sometimes genetic testing Magnetic resonance imaging Usually stimulation tests Growth hormone levels in the blood vary widely and are not as useful as other hormone levels in determining why a child's growth is decreased. Thus, doctors make the diagnosis based on a collection of findings. First, doctors measure the child's height and weight and plot the measurements on age-specific Length and Height to determine whether they are growing too slowly. Then they often do x-rays of bones in the hand. Such x-rays can show if the bones are developing normally for the child's age. Children who are simply short have normal bone development for their age. Children who have growth hormone deficiency have delayed bone development. Delayed bone development can also occur in other conditions, such as -like growth factor binding protein 3. However, these substances may be affected by other conditions, such as Diagnosis , Other laboratory tests are done to look for other causes of poor growth (such as thyroid, blood, kidney, inflammatory disorders, and immune disorders). Genetic testing may be done if doctors suspect the child has a specific syndrome (such as Turner Syndrome ). If test results suggest that the child has a pituitary disorder, imaging tests of the brain using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (MRI) may be done to look for structural abnormalities in the pituitary gland and for tumors. If children have no other cause of poor growth and their growth hormone levels are low, doctors typically do a stimulation test. The stimulation tests involve giving drugs that stimulate growth hormone production, then measuring growth hormone levels over several hours. 