Pediatric Endocrine Society Provides Guidance for Growth Hormone Use in Pediatric Patients

Posted on June 3, 2017 by MaryO

HealthDay News—Use of growth hormone in children and adolescents should be considered carefully, with assessment of the risks and benefits necessary for each patient, according to guidelines published in the January issue of Hormone Research in Paediatrics.

Adda Grimberg, MD, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues updated guidelines on the use of growth hormone, focusing on idiopathic short stature (ISS), GH deficiency (GHD), and primary insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) deficiency (PIGFD). The guidelines were written on behalf of the Pediatric Endocrine Society.

The researchers recommend use of growth hormone for children and adolescents with GHD. Prospective recipients of growth hormone treatment should receive guidance regarding potential adverse effects and should be monitored for these effects. Parents and clinicians should take a shared decision-making approach to treating patients with ISS, and assess the physical and physiological burdens for the child, while considering the risks and benefits of treatment.Follow-up assessment of benefit and psychosocial impact should be conducted at 12 months after initiation and dose optimization of GH. IGF-I therapy is recommended for patients with severe PIGFD. Diagnosis of PIGFD/GH insensitivity syndrome should be based on a combination of factors that fall into four stages.

Physicians with expertise in managing endocrine disorders in children should provide consultation for evaluation of GHD-ISS-PIGFD and manage treatment.

“The taskforce suggests that the recommendations be applied in clinical practice with consideration of the evolving literature and the risks and benefits to each individual patient,” the authors write. “In many instances, careful review highlights areas that need further research.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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Reference

Grimberg A, DiVall SA, Polychronakos C, et al; on behalf of the Drug and Therapeutics Committee of the Pediatric Endocrine Society. Guidelines for growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I treatment in children and adolescents: growth hormone deficiency, idiopathic short stature, and primary insulin-like growth factor-I deficiency. Horm Res Paediatr. 2016;86(6):361-397. doi: 10.1159/000452150

 From http://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/adrenal/growth-hormone-use-in-pediatric-patients/article/634909/

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Cataloging Cushing’s Patients

Posted on June 3, 2017 by MaryO

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is pleased to announce the completion of a grant funded to catalog 2,600 glass plate negatives from the Cushing Brain Tumor Registry.  The grant proposal, “Rethinking Early Neurosurgery: The Harvey Cushing Collection,” was funded through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine-New England Region Knowledge/Data Management Award.  From mid-February through April 30th 2017,  a team of graduate and undergraduate students carefully inputted information on over 3,000 glass plate negatives into the Cushing Center database, exceeding the estimated amount in the grant. The negatives depict Dr. Harvey Cushing’s patients, including histology.

Harvey Cushing, the pioneer and father of neurosurgery, was born on April 8, 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Yale University in 1891, studied medicine at Harvard Medical School and received his medical degree in 1895. In 1896, he moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he trained to become a surgeon under the watchful eye of William S. Halstead, the father of American surgery. By 1899 Cushing became interested in surgery of the nervous system and began his career in neurosurgery. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins, there were countless discoveries in the field of neuroscience.

In 1913, Cushing relocated to Harvard as the surgeon-in-chief at the new Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Cushing continued to operate on several hundred patients a year with remarkable results.  In addition he was relentless in his recording of patient histories and continued his careful attention to the details and documentation of each surgery.

In 1932 Harvey Cushing retired and in 1933 he agreed to join the staff at Yale University, his alma mater, as the Sterling Professor of Medicine in Neurology.  Cushing died in 1939.

The negatives are undergoing rehousing and digitization, and will be made available for research through the Cushing Center database, which brings multiple parts of Harvey Cushing’s work together in one place.  The database, still in development, will allow researchers to explore Cushing’s medical work and patients.  Please contact Terry Dagradi, Cushing Center Coordinator, for details.

 

From http://library.medicine.yale.edu/blog/cushing-center/cataloging-cushings-patients

Filed under: Cushing, Cushing's, Helpful Doctors, pituitary | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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