Adult heights attained by children with hypothalamic/chiasmatic glioma treated with growth hormone

Hypothalamic/chiasmatic gliomas (H/CG) in children are commonly accompanied by endocrine dysfunction due to mass effects of the tumor itself or as a consequence of tumor therapy, with GH deficiency (GHD) being the most common disorder. We report the height outcomes of GH-treated H/CG patients with GHD. We reviewed the records of 14 GHD patients with H/CG who were treated with human GH. A comparison group of non-GH-treated H/CG patients was also identified. Heights were expressed as SD scores (SDS). For GH-treated patients, the mean initial height was -0.7 ± 0.3 (±SE). Their mean final height was -0.3 ± 0.3. The mean change in height SDS for the GH-treated group was +0.4. The mean initial and final height SDS for the non-GHD patients were 0.6 (SE = 0.4) and 0.0 (SE = 0.4), respectively. The mean change in height SDS was -0.6. The GHD patients had significantly lower initial height SDS compared with the non-GHD patients (P = 0.01) and had a significantly greater change in their height SDS (P = 0.04). GH treatment for H/CG patients restores much of their growth potential and improves adult height to within normal limits.