2008 Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 119-125
We investigated factors that affected final height and the response to a growth hormone (GH) provocation test in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who underwent cranial irradiation (CRI). Medical records of 51 patients (33 males, 18 females) who had undergone treatment for childhood ALL were retrospectively examined. Though the expected final height is based on parental height (target height), which is determined by genetic predisposition, we analyzed final height using the height standard deviation score (HSDS) and by calculating the ratio of final height to target height (RFT). HSDS values were within the normal distribution (between-2 and +2 standard deviations) in 46 of 51 patients. The RFT of 3 male and 4 female survivors (13.7%) was below 0.95, and that of 6 male and 8 female survivors (27.5%) was below 0.975. RFT was associated with age at diagnosis and cumulative doses of corticosteroid therapy but not associated with gender or dose of cranial irradiation. Eleven of 12 survivors with RFT < 0.975 showed a normal response to the GH provocation test, whereas 3 of 17 survivors with RFT≥1.0 showed a low response to GH provocation tests. Thus, there was no relationship between the results of the GH provocation test and final height.
