Growth

The short height is one of the most common features of the syndrome together with the poor sexual growth. This affects 90% of the women with the syndrome. It is one of the features which make the doctor suspect before a diagnosis, even if the girl doesn’t present any other alterations. It has been localised a concrete region of the chromosome X which is responsible for the growth and height, for this reason, when a chromosome X is altered or disappeared, it originates growth alterations.

Growth in Turner girls is characterised for following a distinct pattern: during the intrauterine growth, while the future mother is pregnant, the doctor perceives a slow growth in the girl, so, when she is born, her height is approximately between two and three centimetres shorter than the rest of the girls’ height.

As years go by, the growth is slower each time and, when they reach the age of twelve, the different size comparing with their friends is obvious. But the most important difference is found in the puberty because the shooting-up, which should be a common feature of this time of the life, doesn’t happen.The greatest part of the girls doesn’t produce the hormones needed for the beginning of puberty and, as a consequence, the growth delay is more evident.

The average height reached at the end of the growth period is varied and it depends on the parents’ average height, but it is approximately twenty centimetres under the average of the female population.

Although it is well known that Turner girls have the growth hormone (GH), it has been proved that the treatment with it increases the growth speed and the final height. At present, the administered growth hormone is exactly the same as the natural human hormone and it is obtained by genetic engineering. The treatment consists on the daily administration through a subcutaneous injection (between the muscles and the skin) of high doses of this hormone

If you want to know a bit more about the hormonal treatment, not only the GH (growth hormone) but also the treatment with sexual hormones, we recommend you the book by Dr. Juan Pedro Siguero. And being aware we are not experts, we also recommend you consult your doctor. SINDROME DE TURNER: PREGUNTAS Y RESPUESTAS.