Submitted by admin on Mon, 2006-11-13 08:00. ::
However, claims by some people that it can slow down the aging process have recently generated controversy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated that growth hormone therapy only can be used for specific maladies, not to make a person’s hair grow back, lose weight or increase energy levels.
Human growth hormone is produced naturally in the human body by the pituitary gland, located in the brain, which stimulates growth and cell reproduction. A deficiency of this hormone can cause a variety of problems that doctors can treat with growth hormone therapy.
Dr. Mushtaq Godil, a pediatric endocrinologist in Mission, uses growth hormone therapy for some children who, for a variety of reasons, are not growing in height as much as other children.
"I would say the genetically-engineered growth hormone, not coming from any human source, has been available since 1985," Godil said. "We use it for children who are not making growth hormone, for having a pituitary problem and for other indications."
The FDA first approved the use of recombinant human growth hormone in 1985 when it gave Genentech Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. the green light for manufacture of the drug.
Five years later it granted approval for Eli Lilly Co. of Indianapolis, Ind. To manufacture a variant of the drug called Humatrope for children who have growth failure due to an inadequate secretion of normal growth hormone.
"It can theoretically increase risk of certain cancers, especially colon cancer," he said. "Any medication has side effects. You can use it for whatever you want. I think a balance of diet and exercise will work better."
Dr. Edward Lichten, who practices in Birmingham, Mich., said that HGH levels fall steadily in people once they reach adulthood. Lichten has been lecturing about human growth hormone for more than 10 years. He referred to a 1991 study by Dr. Daniel Rudman, who saw dramatic results in elderly people who had received growth hormone treatments. Those changes included improved muscle strength, skin thickness and mental focus. However, many of them soon suffered side effects such as diabetes and arthritis.
"When people are having major surgery, guys in their 50s, 40s, say, ‘I want to recover faster,’ they may qualify for replacement testosterone and replacement growth hormone," he said. "The mistake is to say it’s a panacea. The smaller amounts, the better."
Lichten said that once the FDA approves a particular medication for doctors to treat patients, physicians can use that medication for whatever conditions they feel it will work.
"FDA believes that a physician who prescribes, dispenses, and/or administers HGH for an unauthorized use violates federal law," said an FDA spokeswoman who wouldn’t give her name. "But as is the case with the many violations that we see, the FDA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether enforcement action is appropriate."
Dr. Marcel Twahirwa, an endocrinologist in Mission, also said there’s no clinical or biochemical indication that HGH will slow the effects of aging. He only will treat patients for whom biochemical studies show a deficiency of natural GH.
"It can be used in patients who have a loss of growth hormone," Twahirwa said. Tumors of the pituitary gland or hypothalamus can affect the secretion of hormones and cause a delay in growth.
While the use of HGH therapy can cause anyone to grow taller, Twahirwa said, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists has mandated that it can be used only for GH deficiency. If someone is genetically pre-disposed to be 5 feet 3 inches tall, they probably qualify for the treatment.
"If they are going to be 5 feet 5 inches or 5 feet 6 inches, and want to be 6 feet tall, probably not," he said. "I have one particular patient who had a deficiency of growth hormone, several years ago. He required replacement of several hormones. He actually increased in height several inches."
Godil said he also uses HGH to treat idiopathic short stature — a condition in which, for some unknown reason, a child producing normal amounts of growth hormone still is not growing taller at a normal rate. He also uses the therapy for Turner’s Syndrome, in which young girls are missing one of their X chromosomes; all girls with this condition are short.
"Somebody who has renal failure, they are not growing," he said. "I give it to them, they will grow some with time. They are making growth hormone but they are not growing."
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