GROWTH-HORMONE AND INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH FACTOR-I PLASMA-LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH HYPOPHOSPHATEMIC RICKETS

The cause of the growth retardation present in patients with hypophosp hatemic rickets has not been totally elucidated. There has been a prev ious report of a growth hormone deficit in a group of these patients. To verify this abnormality we studied two groups of patients with hypo phosphatemic rickets, one with (n=6) and the other without (n=7) treat ment with calcitriol and oral phosphates. All patients in both groups showed a normal growth hormone response (>10 mug/1) to standard stimul atory tests and normal IGF-I plasma levels. Mean IGF-I plasma levels w ere not significantly different (untreated 1.46 +/- 0.80 U/ml, treated 1.25 +/- 0.69 U/ml) and the mean logarithmic deviation of IGF-I plasm a levels from both groups did not differ from normal. In summary, we f ound no abnormalities of the growth hormone-IGF-I axis in our patients with hypophosphatemic rickets