Research on treatment of female idiopathic precocious puberty with combined traditional Chinese medicine and megestrol acetate

Abstract

Objective: To find effective therapeutic approach for treating true idiopathic precocious puberty suitable to our national condition and different from gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogue.Methods: One hundred and six girls with idiopathic precocious puberty were divided into 3 groups. The 51 girls in the TCM-WM group were treated with Chinese herbal medicine combined with megestrol acetate (MA), 35 girls in the MA group treated with megestrol acetate alone, and 20 girls were taken as control group and given no treatment at all. Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) stimulating test were performed before and after treatment, and the size of the uterus and ovary, linear growth rate, X-ray bone age measurement and final height prediction were also observed simultaneously.Results: After treated with TCM-WM for 2.7 years in average, the luteinizing hormone (LH) peak value of LHRH stimulating test was reduced from 48.5 ± 5.2 IU/L to 12. 2 ± 1.3 IU/L, size of uterus and ovary decreased, secondary sexual characteristics regressed, the bone age difference/chronological age difference value (ΔBA/ΔCA) reduced from 1.35 ± 0.09 to 0.65 ± 0.05 and predictive final height increased from 153.3 ± 0.5 cm to 158.5 ± 0.6 cm.Conclusion: TCM-WM therapy could not only modulate the function of hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and the development of internal genitalia, but also could decelerate skeletal growth, delay skeletal maturation, and thereby prevent premature epiphyseal fusion and increase the final height of patients.