Intestinal lengthening and growth hormone in extreme short Rowel syndrome:A case report

Recombinant growth hormone (GH) has been used successfully to promote mucos al intestinal adaptation in adults with short bowel syndrome, Here the auth ors report the case of an infant with extreme short bowel syndrome successf ully treated with intestinal lengthening and GH. The patient was born with intestinal atresia leaving only 12 cm of jejunum and 2 cm of ileum with ile ocecal valve. A Bianchi procedure extended the length to 25 cm, but 6 month s later she still received 50% of her nutritional requirements by parentera l route. A 4-week course of 0.5 U/kg of GH dramatically changed the situati on allowing weaning of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) 2 weeks after the e nd of the treatment with striking nutritional improvement, decrease in the number of stools from 7 to 2 per day, and no secondary effects. The authors believe that GH deserves clinical trial in cases of extreme short bowel. J Pediatr Surg 34:1423-1424. Copyright (C) 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company.