Gigantism is a very rare condition. It causes children to grow faster than normal and grow very tall. There is treatment for gigantism. Some affected children may still have symptoms after treatment.
Marfan syndrome most commonly affects the heart, eyes, blood vessels and skeleton. People with Marfan syndrome are usually tall and thin with unusually long arms, legs, fingers and toes. The damage caused by Marfan syndrome can be mild or severe.
Skeletal abnormalities (bone diseases or skeletal dysplasias) — There are more than 50 bone diseases that affect height and growth, many of which are genetic. The most common is achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism in which the child's arms and legs are short in proportion to his/her body length.
Gigantism is a serious condition that is nearly always caused by an adenoma, a tumor of the pituitary gland. Gigantism occurs in patients who had excessive growth hormone in childhood. The pituitary tumor cells secrete too much growth hormone (GH), leading to many changes in the body.
Common causes of tall stature include familial tall stature, obesity, Klinefelter syndrome, Marfan syndrome, and precocious puberty.
Taking good care of yourself — eating well, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of rest — is the best way to stay healthy and help your body reach its natural potential. There's no magic pill for increasing height. In fact, your genes are the major determinant of how tall you'll be.
It can be caused by early growth spurts or precocious puberty. Precocious puberty means sex hormones rise earlier than they should, which basically leads the child to stopping growth at a young age and they often end up being on the shorter side of average as adults. It can also be caused by too much growth hormone.
The specific age of onset for gigantism varies between patients and gender, but the common age that excessive growth symptoms start to appear has been found to be around 13 years. Other health complications, such as hypertension, may occur in pediatric patients with hyper-secretion of growth hormone.
How common is gigantism? Gigantism is an extremely rare condition that only occurs in children. About 100 cases have been reported in the United States. Gigantism has been reported to occur at a female-to-male ratio of 1:2.
Over time, this leads to abnormally large hands and feet, and a wide range of other symptoms. Acromegaly is usually diagnosed in adults aged 30 to 50, but it can affect people of any age. When it develops before the end of puberty, it's known as "gigantism".
At what age do girls stop growing? Girls tend to have a major growth spurt between the ages of 10 and 14. Most will have reached their adult height by the time they are 14 or 15 years old. This major growth spurt happens during the phase of physical and psychosocial development known as puberty.
People with Marfan syndrome are often tall and thin, with very long arms, legs, fingers, and toes. People who might have Marfan syndrome should be evaluated to help reduce the risk of potential heart problems.
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of an individual's height is determined by the DNA sequence variations they have inherited, but which genes these changes are in and what they do to affect height are only partially understood.
Acromegaly and gigantism are disorders of growth hormone hypersecretion. The most common cause is a growth hormone (GH) secreting adenoma in the pituitary gland. Gigantism occurs when growth hormone hypersecretion occurs before the fusion of the long bone epiphysis and is characterized by tall stature.
If gigantism is left untreated, it's associated with significant complications and an increased death rate of around twice the normal average.
Treatments for gigantism include: Surgery — to remove or shrink the pituitary tumour. Radiotherapy — to slow the growth of the tumour and lower the levels of growth hormone. Drug therapy — to control levels of growth hormones, ease symptoms, and shrink the tumour.
Gigantism requires early diagnosis and treatment in order to prevent excess height and to improve life expectancy. If it is left untreated, gigantism is associated with significant complications and an increased death rate of around twice the normal average for the population.
The tumour may also be large enough to cause visual field loss from pressure on the nerves to the eyes. People with gigantism and acromegaly are two to three times more at risk of premature death than the general population. But life expectancy is restored when the disease is adequately treated.
Answer and Explanation: To be formally diagnosed with gigantism, a person generally must be over 7 feet tall. The tallest person ever officially recorded was Robert Wadlow (1918-1940), a man from Illinois who reached 8 feet and 11.1 inches in height.
How Tall Should a 12-Year-Old Be? We can only speak to national average heights here in North America, whereby a 12-year-old girl would be between 137 cm to 162 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/3 feet). A 12-year-old boy should be between 137 cm to 160 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/4 feet).