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ABSTRACT: We assessed the pharmacodynamics of a 3-hour leuprolide stimulation test in 11 girls with precocious puberty to determine an optimal single sampling time. Luteinizing hormone level following leuprolide stimulation was near maximum by 30 minutes in girls with central precocious puberty, whereas it continued to rise slowly in girls with nonprogressive puberty.
The Journal of pediatrics 07/2012; 161(4):757-759.e1. · 4.02 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: GnRH agonist (GnRHa) monthly injections are frequently used in the treatment of central precocious puberty (CPP). The 3-month leuprolide depot 11.25- and 30-mg formulations are newly approved treatment options.
The aim of the study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of leuprolide acetate 3-month depot formulations for the treatment of CPP in children.
This was a phase III, randomized, open-label, dose-ranging 6-month study.
Twenty-two U.S. medical centers (including Puerto Rico) participated.
Children diagnosed with CPP (n = 84), who were either treatment naive or previously treated with GnRHa, were recruited. Chronological age at onset of pubertal signs was less than 8 yr in girls and less than 9 yr in boys, and bone age was advanced over chronological age at least 1 yr.
Leuprolide acetate depot (11.25 or 30 mg) was administered im every 3 months.
Biochemical [peak-stimulated LH, estradiol (girls), and testosterone (boys)] and anthropometric (growth rate, bone age acceleration, pubertal progression) parameters and safety were assessed.
Peak-stimulated LH was suppressed in the 11.25- and 30-mg dose groups in 78.4 and 95.2%, respectively, of children from months 2 through 6. There were nine treatment failures (peak-stimulated LH >4 IU/liter) in the 11.25-mg group and two in the 30-mg group. Basal sex steroid suppression, growth rates, pubertal progression, bone age advancement, and adverse events were similar with either dose.
Treatment with leuprolide acetate 3-month depot formulations (11.25 and 30 mg) effectively suppressed the GnRH axis, was well tolerated, and may positively impact patient convenience and compliance.
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 02/2012; 97(5):1572-80. · 6.50 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To compare 1-month and 3-month depot formulations of leuprolide acetate (DL), a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog, in the treatment of central precocious puberty (CPP).
Subjects with CPP naïve to therapy were randomized to 7.5 mg of 1-month DL, 11.25 mg of 3-month DL, or 22.5 mg of 3-month DL. Stimulated luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol levels, growth velocity, and bone age progression were examined in a 2-year period.
Forty-nine female and 5 male subjects with CPP were randomized. Mean stimulated LH and FSH levels during treatment were higher in the low-dose 11.25-mg 3-month DL group, and more LH levels >4 IU/L were observed, in comparison with the other two dose groups. Mean LH and FSH levels in the 22.5-mg 3-month group were not different from the monthly DL. No differences in estradiol levels, growth velocity, or bone age progression were observed in dosing groups.
All DL doses resulted in prompt and effective suppression of puberty, but higher LH and FSH levels were seen with the 11.25-mg 3-month DL dose. Multi-monthly DL is effective in treating CPP, but higher dosing may be required in some circumstances.
The Journal of pediatrics 07/2011; 159(6):982-7.e1. · 4.02 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs (GnRHa) are the treatment of choice for CPP. We investigated growth in GnRHa-naïve subjects, treated with leuprolide acetate 1-month depot for CPP.
This prospective, open-label study had a long-term, observational, follow-up period. Forty-nine females and 6 males were enrolled. Leuprolide acetate depot was administered intramuscularly every 28 days. Height and growth rate during and after treatment until adulthood were measured.
Among 30 of 49 females having an adult height (AH) measurement, 29 had target heights available (mean = 163.8 cm) and 27 had pretreatment predicted adult heights (PAHs; mean = 157.4 cm). After treatment, the mean AH at mean age 21.8 years [range 13.7-26.7 years] was 162.5 cm, a mean height gain over baseline PAH of 4.0 cm. The mean height standard deviation score was -0.1 at AH.
Treatment of CPP with leuprolide acetate 1-month depot had beneficial effects on growth rate and preservation of AH.
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00660010.
International Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology 01/2011; 2011(1):7.
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ABSTRACT: Methods. This prospective US multicenter trial of leuprolide acetate 1-month depot (7.5-15 mg) for central precocious puberty utilized an open-label treatment period, long-term follow-up, and adult callback. Forty-nine females <9 years old with Tanner breast stage ≥2 before 8 years and 6 males <10 years old with Tanner genital stage ≥2 before 9 years with stimulated LH ≥10 IU/L and bone age advance ≥1 year were enrolled. Results. Subjects were treated for 3.9 ± 2.0 years. Mean peak GnRH-stimulated LH and FSH were prepubertal after the first dose and remained suppressed throughout treatment. During treatment, mean estradiol decreased to the limit of detection and mean testosterone decreased but remained above prepubertal norms. During posttreatment follow-up (3.5 ± 2.2 years), all patients achieved a pubertal hormonal response within 1 year and menses were reported in all females ≥12 years old. No impairment of reproductive function was observed at adulthood (mean age: 24.8 years).
International Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology 01/2010; 2010:398639.
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Jean-Claude Carel,
Erica A Eugster,
Alan Rogol,
Lucia Ghizzoni,
Mark R Palmert,
Franco Antoniazzi,
Sheri Berenbaum,
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon,
George P Chrousos,
Joël Coste, [......],
Peter Lee,
Deborah P Merke, E Kirk Neely,
Wilma Oostdijk,
Moshe Phillip,
Robert L Rosenfield,
Dorothy Shulman,
Dennis Styne,
Maïthé Tauber,
Jan M Wit
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ABSTRACT: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs revolutionized the treatment of central precocious puberty. However, questions remain regarding their optimal use in central precocious puberty and other conditions. The Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society and the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology convened a consensus conference to review the clinical use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in children and adolescents.
When selecting the 30 participants, consideration was given to equal representation from North America (United States and Canada) and Europe, an equal male/female ratio, and a balanced spectrum of professional seniority and expertise.
Preference was given to articles written in English with long-term outcome data. The US Public Health grading system was used to grade evidence and rate the strength of conclusions. When evidence was insufficient, conclusions were based on expert opinion.
Participants were put into working groups with assigned topics and specific questions. Written materials were prepared and distributed before the conference, revised on the basis of input during the meeting, and presented to the full assembly for final review. If consensus could not be reached, conclusions were based on majority vote. All participants approved the final statement.
The efficacy of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in increasing adult height is undisputed only in early-onset (girls <6 years old) central precocious puberty. Other key areas, such as the psychosocial effects of central precocious puberty and their alteration by gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, need additional study. Few controlled prospective studies have been performed with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in children, and many conclusions rely in part on collective expert opinion. The conference did not endorse commonly voiced concerns regarding the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, such as promotion of weight gain or long-term diminution of bone mineral density. Use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs for conditions other than central precocious puberty requires additional investigation and cannot be suggested routinely.
PEDIATRICS 05/2009; 123(4):e752-62. · 4.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Background. Gonadotropin releasing hormone analogs (GnRHas) are standard of care for central precocious puberty (CPP). The histrelin subcutaneous implant is safe and effective in the treatment of CPP for one year. Objective. The study evaluates a second year of therapy in children with CPP who received a new implant after one year of treatment. Methods. A prospective one-year study following an initial 12-month treatment period was conducted. Results. Thirty-one patients (29 girls) aged 7.7 +/- 1.5 years received a second implant. Eighteen were naïve to GnRHa therapy at first implantation. Peak LH declined from 0.92 +/- 0.58 mIU/mL at 12 months to 0.51 +/- 0.33 mIU/mL at 24 months (P < .0001) in naïve subjects, and from 0.74 +/- 0.50 mIU/mL at 12 months to 0.45 +/- 0.35 mIU/mL at 24 months (P = .0081) in previously treated subjects. Predicted adult height increased by 5.1 cm at 24 months (P = .0001). Minor implant site reactions occurred in 61%, while minor difficulties with explantation occurred in 32.2% of subjects. Conclusion. The histrelin implant demonstrates profound hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis suppression when a new implant is placed for a second year of treatment. Prospective follow-up of this therapeutic modality for the treatment of CPP is needed.
International Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology 01/2009; 2009:812517.
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Erica A Eugster,
William Clarke,
Gad B Kletter,
Peter A Lee, E Kirk Neely,
Edward O Reiter,
Paul Saenger,
Dorothy Shulman,
Lawrence Silverman,
Lisa Flood,
William Gray,
David Tierney
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ABSTRACT: GnRH analog (GnRHa) therapy for central precocious puberty (CPP) typically involves im injections. The histrelin implant is a new treatment that provides a continuous slow release of the GnRHa histrelin.
The objective of the study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of the subdermal histrelin implant for the treatment of CPP in treatment naive and previously treated children.
This was a phase III, open-label, prospective study of 1-yr duration.
The study was conducted at nine U.S. medical centers.
Girls ages 2-8 yr (naive) or 2-10 yr (previously treated) and boys 2-9 yr (naive) or 2-11 yr (previously treated) with clinical evidence of CPP and a pretreatment pubertal response to leuprolide stimulation were eligible.
A 50-mg histrelin implant was inserted sc in the inner upper arm.
Peak LH after GnRHa stimulation testing and estradiol (girls) and testosterone (boys) were the main outcome measures.
Thirty-six subjects (20 naive) were enrolled. By 1 month, peak LH fell from 28.2 +/- 19.97 (naive) to 0.8 +/- 0.39 mIU/ml (P < 0.0001) and from 2.1 +/- 2.15 (previously treated) to 0.5 +/- 0.32 mIU/ml (P < 0.0056). Estradiol suppressed from 24.5 +/- 22.27 (naive) to 5.9 +/- 2.37 pg/ml (P = 0.0016) and remained suppressed in previously treated subjects, as did testosterone. Suppression was maintained throughout the study. No significant adverse events occurred.
The subdermal histrelin implant achieves and maintains excellent suppression of peak LH and sex steroid levels for 1 yr in children with CPP. The treatment is well tolerated. Long-term studies are needed to confirm these results.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 05/2007; 92(5):1697-704. · 6.50 Impact Factor
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Advance for nurse practitioners 05/2006; 14(4):45-8.
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ABSTRACT: Dosing of monthly depot leuprolide (DL) in central precocious puberty (CPP) varies considerably. U.S. practitioners use 7.5-15 mg, in contrast with the international standard of 3.75 mg. Pubertal suppression using the newer 3-month DL also has been reported from Europe. To date there have been no direct comparisons of these different DL doses.
In an open 12-month protocol, we tested the efficacy of three DL doses (7.5 mg- and 3.75 mg-1 month and 11.25 mg-3 month) given sequentially to subjects treated for CPP. Primary outcome measures were stimulated gonadotropin (Gn) levels at 12-wk intervals. The null hypothesis was no difference among doses.
Both existing and new patients with CPP received our standard therapy (DL 7.5 mg every 4 wk) for a minimum of 24 wk. In subjects with DL-stimulated LH 2 IU/liter or less, the dose was changed to 3.75 mg every 4 wk and evaluated 12 wk later. Subjects who met LH criteria (<4.5 IU/liter) on 3.75 mg then received a single dose of 11.25 mg-3 month and were reevaluated 12 wk later. Serum LH/FSH and sex steroids were obtained 40 min after DL injection.
Thirty subjects were enrolled (20 naive; 24 girls, 6 boys), and 21 were evaluated on all three DL doses. DL-stimulated LH levels (mean +/- sd) were 1.30 +/- 0.74, 1.73 +/- 0.99, and 2.13 +/- 1.41 on 7.5 mg, 3.75 mg, and 11.25 mg-3 month, respectively (7.5 vs. 3.75 mg, P = 0.019; 7.5 mg vs. 11.25 mg-3 month, P = 0.004, Wilcoxon ranked sign test). Mean FSH levels were 2.86 +/- 1.91, 3.91 +/- 1.98, and 3.96 +/- 1.34, respectively (7.5 vs. 3.75 mg, P = 0.017; 7.5 mg vs. 11.25 mg-3 month, P = 0.020). No differences were detected in mean sex steroid levels.
Stimulated LH and FSH levels were significantly higher during therapy with both the 3.75 mg and 11.25 mg-3 month depot leuprolide doses, compared with 7.5 mg, contradicting the null hypothesis of no difference. These data suggest that low-dose 1- and 3-month DL preparations are associated with persistently greater gonadal stimulation in most CPP patients, but the LH/FSH results were not corroborated by differences in sex steroid levels. Whether various DL doses lead to long-term therapeutic differences remains to be determined.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 05/2006; 91(5):1862-7. · 6.50 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Turner syndrome (TS), a neurogenetic disorder characterized by the absence of one X chromosome in a phenotypic female, is frequently associated with visuospatial impairments. We investigated the neural mechanisms underlying deficits in spatial orientation processing in TS. Thirteen subjects with TS and 13 age-matched typically developing controls underwent neuropsychological assessments and were scanned using functional MRI while they performed easy and difficult versions of a judgment of line orientation (JLO) task. Controls and subjects with TS activated parietal-occipital regions involved in spatial orientation during the JLO task. However, activation was significantly less in the TS group. Control subjects responded to increased task difficulty by recruiting executive frontal areas whereas subjects with TS did not activate alternate brain regions to meet increased task demands. Subjects with TS demonstrate activation deficits in parietal-occipital and frontal areas during the JLO task. Activation, and possibly deactivation, deficits in these areas may be responsible for the visuospatial deficits observed in females with TS.
Cerebral Cortex 03/2004; 14(2):174-80. · 6.54 Impact Factor
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The American Journal of Medicine 10/2003; 115(4):322-3. · 5.43 Impact Factor
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Wendy E Brown,
Shelli R Kesler,
Stephan Eliez,
Ilana S Warsofsky,
Michael Haberecht,
Anil Patwardhan,
Judith L Ross, E Kirk Neely,
She Min Zeng,
Jerome Yankowitz,
Allan L Reiss
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ABSTRACT: Turner syndrome (TS) results from the absence of an X chromosome in females. This genetic condition is associated with specific cognitive deficits and variations in brain volumes. The goal of this study was to use high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine morphological variations in TS and to investigate the effects of parental origin of the X chromosome on brain development in TS. MRI brain scans were acquired from 26 girls with TS and 26 age- and gender-matched controls. Seventeen of the TS subjects had a maternally inherited X chromosome (Xm), and nine of the subjects had a paternally inherited X chromosome (Xp). Rater-blind morphometric analyses were conducted to compare tissue volume differences between girls with TS and controls. Three-way analyses were used to compare subgroups and controls. Subjects with TS demonstrated bilateral decreases in parietal gray and occipital white matter accompanied by increased cerebellar gray matter. Subjects with Xm showed decreased occipital white matter and increased cerebellar gray matter compared to controls. No differences were found in comparisons between subjects with Xp and controls or between subjects with Xm and Xp. Results suggest that X monosomy affects posterior cerebral and cerebellar anatomy in TS. While differences between comparisons of Xm and Xp to controls might suggest an imprinting effect, no significant differences were found when the two subgroups were directly compared to each other. Further investigation into the possible role of genomic imprinting is therefore warranted.
Psychiatry Research 01/2003; 116(3):187-96. · 2.52 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To find the time of the serum gonadotropin peak after depot leuprolide injection in children and to show that depot leuprolide therapy can be monitored by measuring serum luteinizing hormone (LH) immediately after injections.
We measured concentrations of leuprolide, LH, and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) at multiple time points before and after the first dose of depot leuprolide in 14 pubertal children beginning therapy. Gonadotropins and sex steroids were measured again after the fourth dose.
Serum leuprolide, LH, and FSH levels rose rapidly after initial injection, reaching sustained elevations at 30 to 120 minutes. The median LH level increased from 2.1 mIU/mL at baseline to a peak of 27.5 mIU/mL at 45 minutes, and FSH increased from 5.2 to 16.5 mIU/mL. After 3 months on therapy, median serum LH after depot leuprolide injection was only 0.83 mIU/mL, similar to levels observed after intravenous or subcutaneous gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation in comparable subjects on depot leuprolide.
Our pharmacokinetic data demonstrate that free leuprolide present in a depot leuprolide injection is equivalent to gonadotropin-releasing hormone in stimulating a rapid rise in serum gonadotropin concentrations. We propose that a single serum sample for LH obtained 30 to 60 minutes after depot leuprolide injection in children provides a convenient and accurate assessment of treatment efficacy.
PEDIATRICS 03/2002; 109(2):E30. · 4.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Turner syndrome (TS), a genetic disorder characterized by the absence of an X chromosome in females, has been associated with cognitive and visuo-spatial processing impairments. We utilized functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the neural substrates that underlie observed deficits in executive functioning and visuo-spatial processing. Eleven females with TS and 14 typically developing females (ages 7–20) underwent fMRI scanning while performing 1-back and 2-back versions of a standard visuo-spatial working memory (WM) task. On both tasks, TS subjects performed worse than control subjects. Compared with controls, TS subjects showed increased activation in the left and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) during the 1-back task and decreased activation in these regions during the 2-back task. In addition, decreased activation in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and caudate nucleus was observed during the 2-back task in TS subjects. Activation differences localized to the SMG, in the inferior parietal lobe, may reflect deficits in visuo-spatial encoding and WM storage mechanisms in TS. In addition, deficits in the DLPFC and caudate may be related to deficits in executive function during WM performance. Together these findings point to deficits in frontal-striatal and frontal-parietal circuits subserving multiple WM functions in TS. Hum. Brain Mapping 14:96–107, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Human Brain Mapping 09/2001; 14(2):96 - 107. · 5.88 Impact Factor