Boy grows 18cm taller after a year and a half of hormone injections

The boy's mother said that each year her son only grew 1-2 cm, and some years he didn't grow any taller. Seeing that he was too short compared to his classmates, the mother took him to a local hospital in Binh Phuoc for examination. The doctor advised him to use additional calcium-supplemented milk and functional foods to help increase his height.

After a while, the child's height did not improve. The mother took the child to the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City to find the cause, in early 2019.

Doctors from the departments of Endocrinology, Pediatrics, Diagnostic Imaging, Nutrition - Dietetics... worked together to evaluate the possible causes of the child's slow growth. They discovered that the boy had a severe growth hormone deficiency, due to total pituitary failure.

In February 2019, doctors began injecting growth hormones and supplementing pituitary hormones for the baby. More than 18 months later, at the end of November, the re-examination results showed that the baby's height had increased by more than 18 cm, reaching 153 cm.

There are many causes of slow height growth in children., such as poor internal organs, malnutrition, congenital malformations, genetic or chromosomal disorders. Children with chronic kidney failure, endocrine diseases such as hypothyroidism, growth hormone deficiency, pituitary failure... can also be the cause. In addition, the disease can also be caused by severe head trauma, brain tumors, infections such as meningitis and encephalitis. In some cases, the cause is unknown.

In particular, growth hormone deficiency is the reason why about 1/4,000-1/10,000 children do not grow in height. This is one of the most important causes of slow growth. To effectively treat and improve height, children need to be detected with growth hormone deficiency at an early age. Screening, early diagnosis and timely treatment at the "golden stage" will help improve the process of promoting height growth for children.

Doctor Chi said that in reality, many parents who see their children are stunted often arbitrarily buy functional foods, calcium-supplemented milk and other nutrients for their children without consulting a doctor.

"This condition can lead to nutritional imbalance, causing children to become obese but their height still does not improve," said Dr. Chi.

Dr. Tran Quang Nam, Head of the Department of Endocrinology, shared that the height growth rate will stop when the bone age is 14-15 years old in boys and 15-16 years old in girls. At this time, the cartilage will close, growth hormone treatment will no longer be effective. Therefore, early screening for factors that cause slow height growth is very important, helping to diagnose the correct cause and treat the right method to achieve optimal height development for children.

In the early stages, children are treated with growth hormones. When they reach adolescence, they will be re-evaluated for growth hormone disorders. If the growth hormone disorder persists, long-term treatment is needed.

"If you skip the golden stage of development, the treatment will no longer be effective and the child will be much shorter than the height he or she could have achieved as an adult," Dr. Nam affirmed.

Doctors recommend that parents should continuously monitor their child's height and weight growth rate according to the growth chart. If the child's height is lower than average, they should be taken to an Endocrinologist or Pediatrician for early screening and treatment.