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Oral dexamethasone administration: new pharmacological test for the assessment of growth hormone secretion

Pineda J, Martul P, Casanueva FF, Dieguez C, Rica I, Loridan L. Oral dexamethasone administration: new pharmacological test for the assessment of growth hormone secretion. Eur J Endocrinol 1994;131:598–601. ISSN 0804–4643

Acute intravenous (iv) dexamethasone administration has been described recently as a new test for the diagnosis of growth hormone (GH) deficiency. In the present study, a new protocol of dexamethasone administration was evaluated. Twelve normal adults and 18 normal prepubertal children were studied. The dexamethasone iv test was performed in six adults at a dose of 4 mg and 12 children at a dose of 2 mg/m². Blood samples were collected 15 min before, at time zero and every 15 or 30 min during 5 h, resulting in a total of 16 samples. In the remaining six adults and six children, 8 and 4 mg, respectively, of dexamethasone were administered orally at the subject's home, and blood sampling started 90 min later when they arrived at the hospital. Plasma GH was measured by radioimmunassay. The dexamethasone-induced GH response (mean ± SEM, µg/1) to the iv or oral protocol did not differ in either the adults (iv 8.2 ± 2.1; oral 8.0 ± 1.6) or the children (iv 14.9 ± 1.3; oral 13.6 ± 1.8). It is concluded that the simpler protocol of acute oral dexamethasone administration hereby presented can be a safe and suitable test of GH secretion.

J Pineda, Sección de Endocrinologia Pediátrica, Hospital de Cruces, 48903 Baracaldo (Vizcaya), Spain