Long-term Outcomes of Patients with Central Precocious Puberty due to Hypothalamic Hamartoma After GnRH Analog Treatment: Anthropometric, Metabolic and Reproductive Aspects.

BACKGROUND

Hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) represents the commonest cause of organic central precocious puberty (CPP). Follow-up of these patients in adulthood is scarce.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the anthropometric, metabolic, and reproductive parameters of patients with CPP due to HH before and after treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa).

METHODS

We performed a retrospective and cross-sectional study in a single tertiary center including 14 patients (7 females) with CPP due to HH.

RESULTS

The mean duration of GnRHa treatment was 7.7 ± 2.4 years in boys and 7.9 ± 2.1 years in girls. GnRHa treatment was interrupted at the mean chronological age (CA) of 12.1 ± 1.1 years in boys and 10.7 ± 0.5 years in girls. At the last visit, the mean CA of the male and female patients was 21.5 ± 3.2 and 24 ± 3.9 years, respectively. Eleven of the 14 patients reached normal final height (FH) (standard deviation score -0.6 ± 0.9 for males and -0.6 ± 0.5 for females), all of them within the target height (TH) range. The remaining 3 patients had predicted height within the TH range. The mean body mass index and the percentage of body fat mass was significantly higher in females, with a higher prevalence of metabolic disorders. All patients presented normal gonadal function in adulthood, and 3 males fathered a child.

CONCLUSIONS

All patients with CPP due to HH reached normal FH or near-FH. A higher prevalence of overweight/obesity and hypercholesterolemia was observed in the female patients. Finally, no reproductive disorder was identified in both sexes, indicating that HH per se has no deleterious effect on the gonadotropic axis in adulthood.