Assessment of puberty in relation to L-carnitine and hormonal replacement therapy in beta-thalassemic patients.
J Trop Pediatr
; 54(6): 375-81, 2008 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18647801
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate puberty in a group of thalassemic patients with delayed or arrested pubertal development and to compare the effects of hormonal and L-carnitine therapy on puberty in those patients. PATIENTS Thirty-two -thalassemic patients with arrested or failure of puberty were enrolled for 1 year in this study.METHOD:
Clinical pubertal assessment and laboratory investigations were done for all patients at the beginning, 6 months later clinical pubertal assessment was done. Patients were divided into two groups (16 each) first group received L-carnitine therapy, while the second group received hormonal therapy. Pubertal and laboratory assessment were done 6 months after hormonal and L-carnitine therapy.RESULTS:
Failure of puberty was confirmed in 71.4% of boys and 33.3% of girls, while arrested puberty was observed in 28.6% of boys and 66.7% of girls. All girls had amenorrhea, primary amenorrhea in 88.9% and secondary amenorrhea in 11.1%. Menses occurred in 20% of female patients after L-carnitine therapy and in 37.5% of them after hormonal therapy. Improvement of pubertal staging was observed in 50% of males after L-carnitine therapy compared to 75% of them after hormonal therapy. While improvement of pubertal staging was seen in 90% of females after L-carnitine therapy compared to 100% of females after hormonal treatment. However, these results showed no significant difference between both groups.CONCLUSION:
Delayed puberty in beta-thalassemia major is either due to failure of gonads or failure of the whole hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis. L-carnitine as well as hormonal replacement therapy had a positive effect on puberty in the thalassemic patients. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of L-carnitine on puberty in these patients.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Progesterona
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Puberdade Tardia
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Testosterona
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Carnitina
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Talassemia beta
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Estrogênios
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
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Observational_studies
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Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2008
Tipo de documento:
Article