Abstract
Anabolic steroids are used to accelerate the growth of normal boys with constitutional, delay of growth and puberty. We have treated 17 healthy boys aged 9.8 to 15.9 years (mean 13.3 years) who were short (height SDS -1.6 to -4.7, mean -2.9) and had bone ages ≥2 years below chronological ages with low-dose testosterone cnanthate, 0.8-1.2 mg/kg i.m. monthly, for 0.9 to 2.8 years. This increased their height velocity by 3.9 ±1.2 cm/year (mean±SD). During the therapy their bone age advanced 1.5 years/year (mean) and the mean change of RWT height prediction was +1.1 cm, but the individual variation was wide. Those 6 whose final height is known by now have all ended up within 3 cm of their initial RWT prediction. The signs of puberty advanced slowly: of those 10 with no signs of puberty initially, 5 remained so after 6 months, and I after 1 year. The acceleration of growth and puberty induced by testosterone was not statistically significantly different from that seen in a group of 13 similar boys treated by us earlier with fluoxyme-stcrone 0.1 mg/kg daily (Acta Pediatr Scand 1982;71:929). Testosterone enanthate has the advantage over fluoxymesterone that it is more physiological, and needs to be taken only monthly so that the boy does not get a daily reminder of the inadequacy of his growth and pubertal development.
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Lenko, I., Mäenpää, J., Mäkitie, O. et al. LOW DOSE TESTOSTERONE TREATMENT OF DELAYED GROWTH. Pediatr Res 23, 124 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198801000-00139
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198801000-00139