Children with gigantism are taller than other age matched children. In many instances, certain parts are proportionately bigger than other parts. Affected children can also have long hands and feet, with signs of thickening of fingers and toes along with a prominent forehead and jaw. Children with gigantism may also have coarse facial features which include a larger than normal head, flat nose, and large lips and tongue.

Symptoms of gigantism largely depend on the size of the tumor on the pituitary gland. When the tumor gradually increases in size, it may exert pressure on the neighboring nerves in the brain. This may further cause the children to suffer from headaches or loss of vision. In addition, children would also experience weakness, fertility problems, delay in onset of puberty and excessive sweating. In severe cases, deafness can also set in [7].

• Tall Stature

  (jaw protrusion) Aromatase deficiency or estrogen receptor deficiency causing tall stature Other causes of increased GH level Exercise or eating prior to test Acute illness or agitation Liver failure or kidney disease Malnourishment Diabetes mellitus [accessmedicine.mhmedical.com]

  2018 2019 Billable/Specific Code Applicable To Constitutional gigantism E34.4 ) constitutional tall stature ( ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code E34.4 Constitutional tall stature 2016 2017 2018 2019 Billable/Specific Code Applicable To Constitutional gigantism [icd10data.com]

  These patients are of abnormally tall stature, more than 3 standard deviations above normal mean height for age. [fpnotebook.com]

  The clinical manifestations may include increased growth velocity with tall stature, enlargement of the hands and feet, excessive perspiration, coarsening of facial features, and headaches. [genome.jp]

• Disability

  (Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons) RELATED: This Gene Makes You Look Old In children, there's rapid growth, which can be accompanied by joint pain, disabling headaches, vision problems, type II diabetes, facial distortion and enlarged [livescience.com]

  Acromegaly is a chronic disabling and disfiguring disorder with increased late morbidity and mortality if left untreated. Spontaneous remissions have been reported, but the usual course is slow progressive development of symptoms and signs. [tobeyleung.com]

  Ultimately they cause considerable disability (aside from the need for larger rings, gloves, and shoes) including hoarseness, sleep apnea, joint pain, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, insulin resistance, visual impairment and severe headaches. [medicinenet.com]

  Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker [livre.fnac.com]

• Galactorrhea

  The girl initially presented with an increasing growth rate, later with breast development, and finally, at the age of 2.8 years, with galactorrhea and secretion of blood from the nipples. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  Galactorrhea occurs in some women with acromegaly, usually in association with hyperprolactinemia. However, galactorrhea may occur with GH excess alone, because GH itself stimulates lactation. [merckmanuals.com]

  Type 1 Excludes transitory endocrine and metabolic disorders specific to newborn ( P70-P74 ) Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases E20-E35 2019 ICD-10-CM Range E20-E35 Disorders of other endocrine glands Type 1 Excludes galactorrhea ( N64.3 ) [icd10data.com]

• Accelerated Growth

  […] large, and accelerated growth continues for the first 4 or 5 years, the rate being normal thereafter. [medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com]

  A 15-yr-old female patient presented with accelerated growth due to a large pituitary tumor that was surgically resected to relieve pressure effects. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  […] cerebral defect; infants have accelerated growth for the first 4 or 5 years and normal growth after that. [web.archive.org]

  The main symptom is accelerated growth, which means the child will be unusually tall for their age. [healthdirect.gov.au]

  The consequence is an accelerated growth rate and increased height as well as a number of additional soft tissue changes. [yourhormones.info]

• Asymptomatic

  Symptoms of tumor mass effect were the chief presenting complaint in the majority (50%) of patients, while 2 patients were asymptomatic. Six patients had hyperprolactinemia. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  Magnetic resonace imaging (MRI) shows an increase in the amplitude and intensity of the median nerve signal in the patients with symptomatic carpal tunnel syndrome compared to asymptomatic patients [ 16 ]. [doi.org]

• Heart Disease

  The tumours can cause abnormal growth and side-effects including thickened skin, osteoarthritis, and premature death from heart disease. [news-medical.net]

  Acute complications such as carpal tunnel syndrome, sweating and obstructive sleep apnoea are usually readily reversible with treatment of the condition, but chronic complications such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease are less readily corrected [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  You can start to look at trends of how diseases have changed in frequency over time." (See pictures of ancient Egyptian mummies with heart disease .) [news.nationalgeographic.com]

  Unfortunately, the most dangerous changes are not evident to patients, and these include changes in the heart that can lead to heart disease or sudden death, and changes in the colon that can lead to colon polyps which may degenerate into colon cancer [urmc.rochester.edu]

  Screening for complications, including diabetes, heart disease, and gastrointestinal cancer, should be done at the time of diagnosis. [merckmanuals.com]

• Hypotension

  "Hypotension". ^ Kilic D, Sahin E, Gulcan O, Bolat B, Turkoz R, Hatipoglu A (2005). "Octreotide for treating chylothorax after cardiac surgery". Texas Heart Institute Journal. 32 (3): 437–9. PMC 1336729. PMID 16392238. ^ Siu SL, Lam DS (2006). [en.wikipedia.org]

• Prognathism

  It appears in childhood and many morphological signs lead us to suspect it: enlarged hands and feet, thick skin, a prominent chin (called prognathism), and an abnormal tendency to sweat ... The organs are also increased in size. [health.ccm.net]

  The patient had no obvious features of acromegaly, such as prognathism and broad fingers. ... ... [researchgate.net]

  […] tall stature, coarse features, or large hands and feet Physiologic growth spurt Pseudoacromegaly (acromegaly features, insulin resistance) Inactive ("burned-out") acromegaly (spontaneous remission due to pituitary adenoma infarction) Myxedema Isolated prognathism [accessmedicine.mhmedical.com]

  What you'll see in someone with acromegaly is they get what's called frontal bossing [an enlarged forehead], prognathism--their jaw juts out--they get spreading of the teeth, they get enlarged hands and feet. [scientificamerican.com]

• Macrocephaly

  Abstract We report on a neonate presenting with polyhydramnios; macrosomia; macrocephaly; visceromegaly including bilateral nephromegaly, hepatomegaly, cardiomegaly; thymus hyperplasia; cryptorchidism; generalized muscle hypotonia; and a distinctive facial [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  Patients present with accelerated linear growth and macrocephaly with a lag in weight gain. There is no uniform phenotype for patients with gigantism, but coarse facial features and large hands and feet have been described in several patients. [visualdx.com]

  His growth-hormone excess manifested as tall stature, coarse facial features, and macrocephaly. More than 95% of acromegaly cases are caused by a pituitary adenoma that secretes excess amounts of GH. [emedicine.medscape.com]

• Advanced Bone Age

  From two years of age she showed unusual overgrowth, and at 5 years old she was 133.5 cm (+ 5.5 SD) tall and weighed 40.5 kg. Her precocious manifestations were public hair, acne vulgaris, hirsutism, and advanced bone age. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

• Frontal Bossing

  Other symptoms include: Delayed puberty Double vision or difficulty with side (peripheral) vision Very prominent forehead (frontal bossing) and a prominent jaw Gaps between the teeth Headache Increased sweating Irregular periods (menstruation) Joint pain [pennstatehershey.adam.com]

  Other symptoms include: Delayed puberty Double vision or difficulty with side (peripheral) vision Very prominent forehead ( frontal bossing ) and a prominent jaw Gaps between the teeth Headache Increased sweating Irregular periods (menstruation) Joint [nlm.nih.gov]

  Other symptoms may include delayed puberty; double vision or difficulty with side (peripheral) vision; prominent forehead (frontal bossing) and a prominent jaw; headache; increased sweating (hyperhidrosis); irregular periods; large hands and feet with [rarediseases.info.nih.gov]

Measuring the blood levels of growth hormone and insulinlike growth factors forms the preliminary basis of diagnostic procedure. Another method of measuring the insulinlike growth factor is to determine the levels about 1 hour after administration of a glucose load. Under normal circumstances, the hormone levels decrease after a glucose load. In children with gigantism, the values remain normal even after consuming glucose. This indicates that the body produces excessive growth hormones, which causes the levels to remain normal [8]. Imaging studies such as CT scan and MRI are indicated to detect the location as well as size of the tumor in the pituitary gland. 

• Enlarged Sella

  He had an enlarged sella turcica and features of acromegaly. He also had gynecomastia and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism. His buccal smear was sexchromatin negative but a culture of testicular tissues showed XY/XXY mosaicism. [amjmed.com]

  A sellar radiograph showed an enlarged sella turcica with a diameter of 28 mm (1¼ in). A hand radiograph showed that the epiphysial plates had not yet fully closed. Furthermore there was marked osteoporosis [ 59, 60 ]. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

• Hyperprolactinemia

  Abstract In a case of acromegalic gigantism with hyperprolactinemia is reported, the basal serum growth hormone (GH) levels ranged from 1.2 to 1.9 ng/ml. Serum GH response to either insulin-induced hypoglycemia or GH-releasing hormone was blunted. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  Other hyperparathyroidism E21.3 Hyperparathyroidism, unspecified E21.4 Other specified disorders of parathyroid gland E21.5 Disorder of parathyroid gland, unspecified E22 Hyperfunction of pituitary gland E22.0 Acromegaly and pituitary gigantism E22.1 Hyperprolactinemia [icd10data.com]

Treatment of gigantism is aimed at slowing down the progression of production of growth hormones as well as effective management of symptoms. The following methods are employed in order to fulfill the objectives:

• Surgery is the first line of treatment if tumors in the pituitary gland are the major factor for gigantism. 
• Medicines are employed when surgery cannot be performed. In such cases, medications are administered for management of the symptoms. Medicines such as lanreotide or octreotide are given monthly intravenously to reduce the excessive production of growth hormones. Another new drug known as pegvisomant has been developed to lower the production of growth hormones. The drug has to be injected daily and is used when other options or medications fail to yield positive results [9].
• Gamma knife radiosurgery: This type of method is given when surgery is not an option. In such cases, high beam radiation is given to the tumor cells in order to destroy it. This method takes several years for bringing the levels of growth hormone back to normal and is also associated with several side effects; hence it is used very rarely [10].

Research has shown that, about 80% of cases can be successfully treated with surgery to remove the tumor. In situations, when surgery cannot be successfully accomplished then medications are employed for effective management of symptoms. In either of the cases, individuals can live a long and healthy life [6].

Development of a tumor in the pituitary gland is the major cause of gigantism. Excessive release of growth hormone due to a benign tumor in the pituitary gland favors abnormal growth development in children [2].

In addition to excess production of growth hormones, gigantisms can also occur as a result of other conditions, which include neurofibromatosis, Carney complex, multiple endocrine neoplasia type I, tuberous sclerosis and McCune-Albright syndrome. It has been estimated that, about 20% patients suffering from gigantisms also suffer from McCune-Albright syndrome [1].

Gigantism is a rare phenomenon, and only about 100 cases are reported till date. The condition of acromegaly is more common than gigantism, with a reported incidence of 3 – 4 cases per million each year; having a prevalence rate of 40 – 70 cases per million population. Gigantism can strike at any age before the epiphyseal fusion takes place. Agromegaly occurs in the third decade of life; with mean age of diagnosis being 40 years and 54 years in females and males respectively [4]. No sex predilection is known. 

The excess production of insulinlike growth factor can be divided into the following factors:

• Production and release of excessive growth hormone from the pituitary gland
• Increase in the secretion of growth hormone releasing hormone 
• Excess production of insulinlike growth hormone-binding protein, which in turn is responsible for prolonging the half-life of insulinlike growth hormone
• The malfunctioning of the pituitary gland due to development of benign tumor is the major cause, and this promotes excessive production of growth hormones. This gland is located at base of the brain and is important for production of hormones that control the various functions of the body [5].

Gigantism cannot be prevented. However, with early initiation of treatment, the onset of complications can certainly be kept at bay.

Gigantism occurs during childhood, much before the epiphyseal growth plates have closed. Early diagnosis along with prompt initiation of treatment is important for arresting the accelerated growth pattern. However, many parents fail to recognize that their child is suffering from gigantism as they consider the sudden growth as normal childhood growth spurts. Individuals with gigantism measure between 2.13 m to 2.74 m [1].

• Definition: Gigantism is a condition wherein there is excessive production of growth hormones that causes abnormal growth in affected children. Prompt diagnosis and early initiation of treatment is required to arrest complications to set in.
• Cause: Excessive production of growth hormones due to development of tumor in the pituitary gland is the major cause for gigantism. Other less common causes include various conditions such as neurofibromatosis, Carney complex, multiple endocrine neoplasia type I and McCune-Albright syndrome.
• Symptoms: Symptoms of gigantism include larger than normal height compared to other children of same age. Affected children also suffer from delayed onset of puberty, difficulty in vision, sleep problems, weakness, excessive sweating, prominent jaws, headache, irregular menstruation, larger than normal hands and feet which have thickened fingers and toes.
• Diagnosis: Determining the blood levels of growth hormone helps in arriving at a definitive diagnosis. The levels of the hormone can also be checked an hour later after administration of glucose load. MRI and CT scan would be required for locating the site and determining the shape of the tumor.
• Treatment: Surgery forms the first line of treatment. If surgery isn’t an option then, medications are given to control the excessive production of growth hormones. A new drug that has been introduced to control the growth hormone release is pegvisomant. Gamma knife radiosurgery is the last resort and employed only when surgery and medications have not been successful in bringing about the desired results.

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2. Nainggolan L. Gene Discovery in Giants Could Shed Light on Human Growth. Medscape Medical News.
3. Sotos JF. Overgrowth.Hormonal Causes.ClinPediatr (Phila) 1996; 35:579.
4. Giustina A, Chanson P, Bronstein MD, Klibanski A, Lamberts S, Casanueva FF, et al. A consensus on criteria for cure of acromegaly. J ClinEndocrinolMetab. Jul 2010;95(7):3141-8.
5. Khandelwal D, Khadgawat R, Mukund A, Suri A. Acromegaly with no pituitary adenoma and no evidence of ectopic source. Indian J EndocrinolMetab. Sep 2011;15Suppl 3:S250-2.
6. Thomsett MJ. Referrals for tall stature in children: a 25-year personal experience. J Paediatr Child Health 2009; 45:58.
7. Abe T, Tara LA, Lüdecke DK. Growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas in childhood and adolescence: features and results of transnasal surgery. Neurosurgery. Jul 1999;45(1):1-10
8. Sippell WG, Partsch CJ, Wiedemann HR. Growth, bone maturation and pubertal development in children with the EMG-syndrome. Clin Genet 1989; 35:20.
9. Rix M, Laurberg P, Hoejberg AS, Brock-Jacobsen B. Pegvisomant therapy in pituitary gigantism: successful treatment in a 12-year-old girl. Eur J Endocrinol. Aug 2005;153(2):195-201
10. Jagannathan J, Yen CP, Pouratian N, Laws ER, Sheehan JP. Stereotactic radiosurgery for pituitary adenomas: a comprehensive review of indications, techniques and long-term results using the Gamma Knife. J Neurooncol. May 2009;92(3):345-56.