Etiology of central precocious puberty in males: The results of the Italian Study Group for Physiopathology of Puberty

We reviewed the hospital records of 45 boys, followed in 13 pediatric depar tments throughout Italy, who had undergone computed tomography and/or magne tic resonance imaging for central precocious puberty (CPP), Twenty-seven pa tients (60%) had idiopathic CPP and 18 (40%) neurogenic CPP, A hamartoma of the tuber cinereum was found in six patients (33%), All patients with hypo thalamic hamartoma had earlier onset of symptoms than patients with idiopat hic CPP, Five patients (27%) were affected by type 1 neurofibromatosis, two had ependymoma and five patients had an intracranial anomaly. Basal LH and basal and peak LH/FSH ratio were greater, but not significantly, in boys w ith neurogenic CPP than in boys with idiopathic CPP. The highest LH peak le vels were observed in patients with hamartoma; however, no correlation was observed between LH peak and the size of the hamartomas. In addition, bone age at diagnosis was more advanced in patients with hamartoma than in patie nts with other conditions. In conclusion, gonadotrophin-dependent precociou s puberty may be of idiopathic origin or may occur in association with any CNS disorder. Further studies are needed in order to evaluate the effects o f nutritional, environmental and psychosocial factors on the timing of sexu al maturation, to explain the high incidence of idiopathic CPP in our male patients.