Summary of Session V Therapeutic Effects of Growth Hormone

Abstract

Most pediatric endocrinologists now in practice were trained during the period of time when the therapeutic use of growth hormone in the United States was perfectly straightforward. Because of the severe limitations of supply, and the centralization of distribution in this country through the National Pituitary Agency, the therapeutic use of growth hormone was restricted to children with severe growth hormone deficiency as defined by rigid and narrowly defined criteria. With the introduction of commercial pituitary growth hormone supplies into this country, and more recently with the introduction of the potentially unlimited supplies of synthetic growth hormone, there has been an increasing number of questions about the use of growth hormone beyond the narrow original definition of growth hormone deficiency.