Diagnosis and Treatment
The goal of treating precocious puberty is to halt or reverse the process of sexual development.
Following tests can be used to diagnose the problem of precocious puberty:
- Blood hormone levels
- X-ray of the child's wrist and hand (to check whether the bones are maturing too rapidly)
- Imaging and scanning tests like CT scan, MRI, USG (to help rule out specific causes like tumor in the brain, ovary or testicle)
Rapid growth and bone maturation can prevent a child from reaching his or her full height potential is one reason for treating precocious puberty, while another reason is that a young child may not be psychologically ready for the physical and hormonal changes that occur during puberty.
There are two possible approaches for precocious puberty treatment:
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- Treating the underlying cause, eg: tumor- Some tumors which secrete hormones might need surgical excision.
- Lowering the elevated levels of sex hormones with medication. The treatment will also involve arresting the rapid growth and bone maturation which can eventually result in adult short stature. With the use of medication the breast size in girls and the size of the penis and testicles in boys can be reduced to the expected size for their age. The growth in the height can also be slowed down to the rate which is normally expected for children of that age. The process of puberty begins once the medications are stopped.
