Endocrine Abstracts

Craniofacial proportions of girls with TS, compared to normal children, show reduced size of the craniofacial complex, retrognathic profile and tendency towards advanced dental age. Growth hormone (GH) treatment in TS positively affects stature, but its effects on craniofacial growth and dental development are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to analyze and to correlate the craniofacial morphology, chronological, dental and bone ages of TS patients receiving GH or not. After the study was approved by the local Ethics Committee, we evaluated 21 cephalometric measurements (lateral cephalograms), dental age (DA) (panoramic radiograph), bone age (BA) (left hand-wrist radiograph) and stature Z-escore in 22 TS patients (9 monosomy X; 10 mosaicism; 3 structural abnormalities of the X chromosome). The GH treatment lasted from 0 to 6.8 yr. The median chronological age (CA) was 16±3.4 yr (±S.D.). The variations for BA and DA were 6.8 yr to 17 yr and 6 yr to 17 yr, respectively. Stature Z-escore was −2.33±1.8 (mean±S.D.). Statistics were performed using the principal component analysis, simple linear regression and Pearson correlation coefficient. P values <0.05 were considered significant. Face height and mandibular length were the most affected measures and showed correlations with BA, CA and GH treatment duration (P<0.05). Cytogenetic status did not influence face alterations. CA was greater than BA (P<0.05) and did not differ from DA, while BA was lower than DA (P<0.05). We observed a positive correlation between CA and BA (r=0.7), CA and DA (r=0.8) and BA and DA (r=0.7). In conclusion, we showed that our TS patients present a short and retropositioned face, mainly in the lower third part, conferring them a convex profile. A prospective study will provide greater knowledge of GH effects on craniofacial structures, looking for better orthodontic treatment for these patients.