Adrenal Insufficiency

Introduction Adrenal insufficiency is caused by failure of the adrenal glands to produce sufficient (or any) amounts of cortisol and aldosterone. Prolonged lack of cortisol leads to severe fatigue, chroni...
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Amenorrhea

Introduction Amenorrhea is a medical term for the absence of menstrual bleeding. Women who have missed at least three menstrual periods in a row have amenorrhea, as do girls who haven't begun menstruation...
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Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Summary Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is a term combining several rare, genetic autosomal recessive disorders that are inherited by children when both of the parents are carriers of a mutated gene....
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Delayed Puberty

Introduction Delayed puberty is defined clinically by the absence or incomplete development of secondary sexual characteristics bounded by an age at which 95 percent of children of that sex and culture ha...
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Growth Hormone Deficiency

Introduction Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a medical condition due to not enough growth hormone (GH). Generally, the most noticeable symptom is a short height. In newborns there may be low blood suga...
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Gynecomastia

Introduction Gynecomastia is a benign enlargement of the male breast (usually bilateral but sometimes unilateral) resulting from a proliferation of the glandular component of the breast. It is defined cli...
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Hashimoto’s Disease

Introduction Hashimoto's disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease where the body's own antibodies attack the cells of the thyroid. Hashimoto's thyroid...
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Hyperthyroidism

Introduction Hyperthyroidism is a set of disorders that involve excess synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland, which leads to the hypermetabolic condition of thyrotoxicosis.  Hyp...
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Hypopituitarism

Summary Hypopituitarism is a dysfunction of the pituitary gland, during which it fails to produce a sufficient amount of one or more hormones. The pituitary gland is part of the endocrine system and is re...
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Idiopathic Short Stature

Introduction Idiopathic short stature (ISS) refers to extreme short stature that does not have a diagnostic explanation (idiopathic designates a condition that is unexplained or not understood) after an o...
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Klinefelter Syndrome

Introduction Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is the result of 2 or more X chromosomes in a phenotypic male. The clinical phenotype of KS was first described in males with tall stature, small testes, gynecomasti...
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Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Introduction Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have abnormalities in the metabolism of androgens and estrogen and in the control of androgen production. PCOS can result from abnormal function...
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Precocious Puberty

Introduction Precocious puberty refers to the appearance of physical and hormonal signs of pubertal development at an earlier age than is considered normal. For many years, puberty was considered precocio...
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Premature Adrenarche

Introduction Adrenarche is a lot like puberty; it’s characterized by changes in the body as the child enters teen years. Premature adrenarche is when these changes begin early, before age 8 for girls and...
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Small for Gestational Age

Introduction Small for gestational age (SGA) is a term used to describe babies who are smaller than usual for the number of weeks of pregnancy. These babies have birth weight below the 10th percentile. Th...
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Turner Syndrome

Introduction Turner syndrome (TS), also known as congenital ovarian hypoplasia syndrome, occurs when the X chromosome is partially or completely missing in females. Its main clinical manifestations includ...
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Vitamin D Deficiency

Introduction Vitamin D is labeled as the "sunshine vitamin," as it is produced in the skin on sun exposure. Vitamin D is required to maintain serum calcium concentration within the normal physiologic rang...
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