The Pituitary Gland And Dwarfism Essay, Research Paper

The Pituitary Gland and Dwarfism

The Pituitary Gland is situated at the base of the brain and it produces

hormones which control growth. Too large an amount of these hormones causes

giantism, a condition where facial features, hands, etc. become abnormally large.

Too little causes dwarfism, where the overall stature of a person is very small.

Dwarfism is the condition of being undersized, or less than 127 cm (50

in) in height. Some dwarfs have been less than 64 cm (24 in) in height when

fully grown. The word midget is usually applied to dwarfs. Another growth

disorder disease is Cretinism which is a result of a disease of the thyroid

gland it is the cause of most dwarfism in Europe, Canada, and the United States.

Other causes of dwarfism are Down’s syndrome, a congenital condition with

symptoms similar to those of cretinism, achondroplasia, a disease characterized

by short extremities resulting from absorption of cartilaginous tissue during

the fetal stage, spinal tuberculosis, and deficiency of the secretions of the

pituitary gland or of the ovary.

Causes of pituitary dwarfism may vary. Abnormally short height in

childhood may be due to the pituitary gland not functioning correctly, resulting

in underproduction of growth hormone. This may result from a tumor in the

pituitary gland, absence of the pituitary gland, or trauma.

Growth retardation may become evident in infancy and persists throughout

childhood. Normal puberty may or may not occur depending on the degree of

pituitary insufficiency that is present, which is the inability of the pituitary

to produce adequate hormone levels other than growth hormone.

Physical defects of the face and skull may also be associated with

abnormalities of the pituitary gland. A small percentage of infants with cleft

lip and cleft palate may have decreased growth hormone levels.

No ideal treatment has been developed yet for pituitary dwarfism.

Replacement therapy with growth hormone is indicated for children who have

documented growth hormone deficiency. If the deficiency is an isolated growth

hormone deficiency only growth hormone is given. If the deficiency is not

isolated other hormone replacement preparations will be required.

There are a few complications of pituitary dwarfism. Some are short

stature and delayed puberty development. Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease has been

acquired from cadaver derived growth hormone which is no longer available.

Synthetic growth hormone is now available which is free of all infectious

disease risk.

Pituitary dwarfism is a sad disease to see a person have. Most cases are

not preventable. The future may look good for the disease though. Medical

breakthroughs are always happening. It may not be easy but doctors are

constantly in a lab somewhere working on these terrible disorders and diseases

such as pituitary dwarfism.