ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Radiation induced growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is one of several important factors in the aetiology of short stature complicating the treatment of brain tumours in childhood. If such a child is clinically well,shows a poor growth rate and biochemical evidence of GH deficiency,then a 1 year trial of GH is justified.

The aim of this study is to evaluate growth and assessed Pituitary function (GH deficiency) in children who received cranial irradiation for brain tumours.

Materiels and Methods: Thirteen children were studied: 10 boys and 03 girls with sex ratio of 3 boy for 1 girl with age rang from 08 years to 17 years.

Results: The Neoplasms listed are: 03 medulloblastomas, 02 Germinomas, 02 astrocytomas, two ependymomas,01 craniopharyngioma, 01 pineoblastoma, 01 retinoblastoma, and (01) tumor of the cavum. The stature is found delayed <-2DS for 08 children, the 05 others children showed no delay in their stature. A hormonal exploration, IGF1 levels were low in 08 cases and normal in 05 cases, stimulation tests of GH performed in 07 cases (one patient was lost to) returned for a complete deficiency in GH in 06 cases and partial for one patient. Except for the 02 patients with persistence of the neoplastic process, the rest of the patients had a sequellar neoplastic status, which allowed treatment with GH in 05 cases with no incident during GH treatment, all children so treated showed an increase in height. .However, after 02 years following the end of the GH a recurrence is noted in one case.

Conclusion: We conclude that GH deficiency are common after cranial irradiation for brain tumors. Linear growth appears to reflect GH status accurately in children with brain tumors. Our findings reflect the need for prospective growth monitoring of children with brain tumors treated with cranial irradiation.