By our staff writer (PUNE) APRIL 16, 2000: The growth process of a child is both physical and mental. Each stage is important to facilitate the full development of a child towards maturity. However, sometimes puberty related disorders can severely hamper both the emotional and physical growth of a child. To shed light on recent advances and research on puberty related disorders that Bhavan’s SPARC ‘Centre for Disorders of Growth and Puberty’ along with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, B J Medical College and the Jehangir Medical Center, Pune held a “Multi–disciplinary awareness colloquium on growth, development and pubertal maturation with a focus on Turner syndrome” at the hotel Le Meridian today.

Dr. Ashok Vaidya, a speaker at the colloquium stressed on the “Need to create awareness about puberty related disorders in children”. Hyperthyroidism and growth hormone deficiency were some of the puberty related disorders discussed. Dr. Mrudula Phadke was the chief guest. The Turner syndrome which affects only females was also discussed in depth. This disorder occurs one in 2500 female births and results from a partial or complete absence of one X chromosome. So the extent to which individual patients exhibit physical characteristics typical of Turner syndrome vary but all patients are at risk from associated medical and psychological problems. Therefore, the management of a girl with Turner syndrome requires a multi–disciplinary approach. Growth failure, gonadal dysgenesis, inverted, widely spaced nipples, webbed neck, skin and nail deformities, defective dental development, renal dysgenesis, cardiac malformation, skeletal dsygenesis, otitis media and eye deformities are some of the physical abnormalities related to Turner syndrome.

The speakers included Dr. Aspi Irani, Dr. Rama Vaidya, and chairpersons Dr. Usha Sutaria and Lt Col M K Garg. The focus was on how best to foster self–confidence and enable the child to lead an emotionally stable and normal life. For this the management of the Turner syndrome needed to be tailored according to the individual needs and age of diagnosis. Ideally however, patients should be offered life–long comprehensive care, covering all aspects of their condition.

“Management of growth failure is another important aspect of patient care in most puberty related disorders. In addition to helping patients attain near normal adult heights, careful management of growth is integral to optimize management of sexual development and has beneficial effects both in terms of social and academic development”, said Dr Rama Vaidya. The treatment being offered is Growth Hormone (GH) Therapy. For girls afflicted with the Turner syndrome GH treatment can be started as early as two years of age with daily doses being adjusted over time as the girl grows. The therapy helps to increase height velocity and sustains growth to bring final height into the normal range. In fact GH therapy together with sex steroids management of puberty, affords patients with Turner syndrome a greater opportunity for normal growth and sexual development.

Gentropin is an artificial Growth Hormone made available by KIGS (Pharmica and Upjohn). Now there is even a Gentropin pen available which offers a simplification of GH therapy. In India, Gentropin is currently available in 16 I.U. (5.3 mg)–multi dose two–compartment cartridge (I+II) for Gentropin Pen 16.