TREATMENT OF PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY IN GIRLS WITH INTRANASAL LHRH AGONIST (BUSERELIN)

Ten girls with idiopathic precocious puberty were treated for 1 - 3 years with Buserelin (B) intranasally at a daily dose of 200 - 900 ug. The data are compared to those obtained previously in 21 untreated and in. 13 girls with precocious puberty treated with cyproterone acetate (Pediat Res 8.248-256, 1974). B was clinically effective in suppressing menses in all but one girl who had low gonadotropins at onset. Breast size did not increase in 8, but pubic and axillary hair development progressed in 8 patients. Peak LH (170.3 ± 39.5 vs 99.1 ± 24.9 ug/1) and FSH (451 ± 73.4 vs 164.8 ± 29.1 ug/1) after LHRH were markedly suppressed during the first months of treatment and remained low thereafter. Basal LH increased intially (18.6 ± 3.8 vs 71.1 ± 17.0 ug/1) and persistently while basal FSH remain unchanged. Prl. E1. E2 levels were unaffected. DHEA gradually increased as seen in normal girls. Differences in height SDS at the beginning (1.72 ± 0.44). at 1 yr (2.01 ± 0.43) and at 2 years of treatment (1.95 ± 0.53) were minimal as were corresponding SDS for bone age (3.27 ± 0.53; 4.15 ± 0.54; 4.19 ± 0.53) and for height prediction related to target height (-1.20 ± 0.61; -1.40 ± 0.48; -173 ± 0.39). The data of statural and skeletal development of B-treated girls are not significantly different from those of untreated girls nor from those treated with cyproterone acetate.Supported by Swiss National Science Foundation grant 3.406.083.