Interní Med. 2011; 13(3): 117-118

Growth hormone deficiency in adults

doc.MUDr.Zdeněk Fryšák, CSc., MUDr.David Karásek, Ph.D., MUDr.Dagmar Jackuljaková

III. interní klinika FN Olomouc

The 1997 Consensus Guidelines recognized adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) as a distinct clinical entity. Human growth hormone

(HGH) replacement has gradually been introduced in routine practice as a therapeutic tool for AGHD. With increasing experience

and length of treatment for AGHD, a number of issues have been raised which, as is becoming apparent, cannot be clearly addressed

and resolved. It is not clear whether all AGHD patients should be treated, how large a dose the patient should receive and how long the

patient should actually use HGH replacement. Even many years of experience with using HGH in clinical practice have failed to dispel

the doubt arising from the possible consequences of long-term replacement in terms of an individual’s life expectancy providing that

a patient without obvious contraindications (active malignant disease, brittle diabetes mellitus) receives replacement treatment due

to severe HGH deficiency.

Keywords: growth hormone, adult growth hormone deficiency, insulin tolerance test

Published: March 16, 2011  Show citation