Abstract
Delayed puberty, often associated with short stature is a common problem in the paediatric clinic. These boys' retarded growth and sexual development causes considerable distress during adolescence. Because testosterone is widely believed to accelerate bone maturation disproportionately and thus reduce final height this treatment is often withheld.
36 boys, aged 12.0-17.7 (mean 14.8) yrs, were treated with testosterone oenanthate 125mg intramuscularly for 3 months. They were seen half yearly and heights (Harpenden stadiometer), skeletal maturation (Tanner RUS (TW2)) and pubertal status (Tanner and Whitehouse) were measured.
At 6 months there was a distinct advance in pubertal status and an increase in height velocity from 4.4 to 9.8cm/year. The boys' morale and confidence increased impressively. No serious side-effects were seen. The effects of treatment on height prediction and height standard deviation score for bone age are shown below:
Treatment with testosterone effectively alleviates the main problems of delayed puberty and our data suggest that at this dosage it has no significant effect on final height.
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Donaldson, M., Savage, D. TESTOSTERONE THERAPY IN BOYS WITH DELAYED PUBERTY. Pediatr Res 23, 125 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198801000-00141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198801000-00141
