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Gigantism

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Gigantism is a rare condition that causes abnormal growth in children. It occurs when your child’s body produces far too much growth hormone.
What Is Gigantism?
Gigantism is a rare condition that causes abnormal growth in children. This change is most notable in terms of height, but girth is affected as well. It occurs when your child’s pituitary gland makes too much growth hormone, which is also known as somatotropin. Early diagnosis is important. Prompt treatment can stop or slow the changes that may cause your child to grow larger than normal. However, the condition can be hard for parents to detect. The symptoms of gigantism might seem like normal childhood growth spurts at first.
What Causes Gigantism?
A pituitary gland tumor is almost always the cause of gigantism. The pea-sized pituitary gland is located at the base of your brain. It makes hormones that control many functions in your body. Some tasks managed by the gland include: temperature control, sexual development, growth, metabolism and urine production.
Recognizing the Signs of Gigantism?
If your child has gigantism, you may notice that they’re much larger than other children of the same age. Also, some parts of the body may be larger in proportion to other parts. Common symptoms include: very large hands and feet, thick toes and fingers, a prominent jaw and forehead and coarse facial features.

Children with gigantism may also have flat noses and large heads, lips, or tongues.
The symptoms your child has may depend on the size of the pituitary gland tumor. As the tumor grows, it may press on nerves in the brain. Many people experience headaches, vision problems, or nausea from tumors. Other symptoms of gigantism may include: excessive sweating, severe or recurrent headaches, weakness, insomnia and other sleep disorders, delayed puberty in both boys and girls, irregular menstrual periods in girls and deafness.
How Is Gigantism Diagnosed?
If your child’s doctor suspects gigantism, they may recommend a blood test to measure levels of growth hormones and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which is a hormone produced by the liver. The doctor also may recommend an oral glucose tolerance test.
During an oral glucose tolerance test, your child will drink a special beverage containing glucose, a type of sugar. Blood samples will be taken before and after your child drinks the beverage. In a normal body, growth hormone levels will drop after eating or drinking glucose. If your child’s levels remain the same, it means their body is producing too much growth hormone.
If the blood tests indicate a pituitary gland tumor, your child will need an MRI scan of the gland. Doctors use this scan to see the size and position of the tumor.

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