Precocious puberty & Children with short stature

Precocious puberty

Precocious puberty (PP) is the early commencement of puberty, including the early emergence of secondary sexual features, the development of the breasts in females before the age of eight, and the enlargement of the testicles in boys before the age of nine. PP has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic problems. Additionally, some evidence indicates that children with PP may experience more emotional issues.

Currently, the first-line treatment for PP involves the use of analogues of the hormone gonadotropin-releasing. However, adverse effects of GnRH analogues have been documented, including transient vaginal bleeding, hyperlipidemia, central adiposity, local erythema, and bone density loss. Since ancient times, TCM practitioners have used oral herbs to treat numerous pediatric illnesses. TCM pediatricians proposed that, according to TCM theory, the Yin and Yang imbalance in the kidney and liver, which also causes the hyperfunction of ministerial fire, is the pathophysiology of PP.

Zhi-Bai-Di-Huang-Wan, also known as the Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia Pill and made up of eight herbs, was the herbal remedy for PP that was most frequently administered. The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis has been demonstrated to be suppressed by downregulating Kiss-1/GPR54 mRNA expression and reducing the production and release of GnRH. This is in accordance with TCM theory, which states that it can nourish yin and eradicate fire. In several research, it was discovered that "nourishing yin and removing fire" Chinese herbal mixes might dramatically delay sexual development while also down-regulating increasing GnRH expression.

Children with short stature

Children with short stature are those whose height is two standard deviations or one percentile shorter than the average height of healthy children of the same race, sex, and age in a similar living environment. Idiopathic short stature (ISS), familial short stature, hypophysial hormone deficiency, hypothyroidism, less than gestational age chromosome diseases, growth hormone (GH) deficiency, hypothyroidism, malnutrition, and precocious puberty are just a few of the conditions that can result in short stature.

Children with GH deficiency can benefit from recombinant human GH as an efficient treatment to increase their lifetime height. It has been discovered that an increasing number of children are insensitive to or resistant to growth hormone throughout treatment, which has a negative impact on clinical results, even if not all children in clinical practice have GH deficiency.

To boost a child's growth, TCM treatments including acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine have been employed extensively. According to TCM philosophy, some young children with short height are thought to have issues with their gastrointestinal systems or with their kidney and spleen not receiving enough nutrition. Therefore, it is consistent with the majority of respondents who stated that the goal of treatment is tonifying the kidney or the spleen.

Tonifying the spleen is a therapeutic approach used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to address the spleen's decreased functional capabilities. Treatment of kidney deficiency patterns or syndromes with tonifying medications is referred to as tonifying the kidney. Herbal medicine is regarded as an important therapeutic strategy.

Acupuncture and moxibustion are also required for the treatment. The majority of acupoints utilized for therapy were all situated from the ankle to the toes and might promote height development by stimulating the knee, tibia, and ankle bones. Other acupoints in the three yin meridians of the liver, spleen, and kidney, which are used to strengthen the liver, spleen, and kidney, have also been used to cure short stature. The umbilicus and the xiphisternal joint are two locations for moxibustion meridians, which support the digestive system.

The duration of herbal medicine administration ranged from two to six months, and once a week was the frequency of other interventions.

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