For puberty that comes too soon, new treatment highly effective

Abstract

Children with true precocious puberty can now be treated definitively with a potent, long-acting analogue of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). The analogue not only arrests or reverses their premature sexual development but also slows their rapid growth and skeletal maturation, forestalling early epiphyseal closure. Hence, unlike untreated patients, the children probably can expect to attain normal adult stature. About 80 children currently are receiving once-daily subcutaneous injections (4 μg/kg of body weight) of the analogue on an investigational basis in a project of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Bethesda, Md. Of the children, who ranged in age from 9 months to 9 years at the start of the treatment, more than 90% have responded satisfactorily to the therapy. Approximately 30% have precocious puberty secondary to hypothalamic hamartomas. About 10% have entered puberty early because of other CNS abnormalities such as pineal tumors, endocrine conditions such