[Endocrine behavior of battered children in the acute stage of the aggression]. / Comportamiento endocrino del niño maltratado en la fase aguda de la agresión.

To date the cause of growth retardation of children who have suffered physical abuse and emotional deprivation is unknown. Hypophyseal disturbances in these patients have been proposed of the cause but there are still several concerns on the dynamics of growth hormone secretion in these children. In this study, eleven out of sixteen patients had a low height without important diminution of corporal weight. Growth hormone under basal conditions was found to be elevated in battered children compared with a control group (15.2 +/- 4.7 ng/mL vs 9.6 +/- 1.9 ng/mL, p = 0.025). Two weeks after hospitalization a tendency towards normalization was apparent (13.8 +/- 3.0, NS vs controls). Cortisol, thyroid hormones T3 and T4 as well as thyrotrophin did not show significant changes under basal conditions with respect to control patients although there were some isolated cases with abnormal values. While chronic stress could adversely affect hypophyseal trophic hormone secretion, our study did not show either this were effect nor a clear association between growth retardation and a characteristic abnormal endocrine pattern. It seems that the cause growth and developmental retardation in battered children is of a multifactorial.

[Hepatosplenomegaly of unknown etiology: clinical examination in making a diagnosis in 57 cases]. / Hepatoesplenomegalia de etiología desconocida: abordaje clínico para su diagnóstico en 57 casos.

Fifty-seven patients with the diagnosis of hepatosplenomegaly of unknown cause were studied. Most of the patients were infants and preschool age children. They were evenly distributed by sex. The patients were not undernourished nor did they have low height. However if such was the case, they were usually patients with a metabolic or neoplastic problem. Psychomotor retardation, paleness, jaundice and bleeding were the most common signs and symptoms. Hepatic function tests, complete blood count and urinalysis helped to establish the cause of hepatosplenomegaly in 19 of the 57 patients. Other studies only helped to establish the diagnosis of visceromegaly of unknown cause. Liver biopsy, bone marrow biopsy and a metabolic study were useful to establish the diagnosis in 34 cases. Infectious, metabolic and neoplastic problems were the usual cause for visceromegaly.