The radiological approach to precocious puberty

Precocious puberty is caused by a heterogeneous group of disorders, which r ange from idiopathic to malignant tumours. The radiologist's role is to hel p: (1) differentiate precocious puberty from pubertal variants; (2) identif y the underlying cause of precocity if present: and (3) assess for effectiv eness of treatment. This pictorial review discusses the types of precocious puberty and their underlying aetiologies, differentiates precocious pubert y from pubertal variants and illustrates the appropriate imaging evaluation for the patient diagnosed with precocious puberty.