Human Growth Hormone

Dr. Casas offers evidence based medicine treatment options for the natural optimization of Human Growth Hormone production, if clinically indicated.

There are very strict medical guidelines concerning who is a candidate for direct Human Growth Hormone replacement. Dr. Casas adheres to the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS MEDICAL GUIDELINES FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE FOR GROWTH HORMONE USE IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN.

Indications for Use of Growth Hormone in Adults (Taken from the Guidelines)

In August 1996, the FDA approved GH for use in adult patients with GHD. The only approved indication was pituitary disease from known causes, including pituitary tumor, pituitary surgical damage, hypothalamic disease, irradiation, trauma, and reconfirmed childhood Growth Hormone Deficiency. 

Most patients considered for GH therapy are in one of these categories. A few patients with definite Growth Hormone Deficiency , however, have other kinds of pituitary-hypothalamic disease; these include patients with Sheehan’s syndrome, autoimmune hypophysitis, or hypophysitis associated with other inflammatory conditions, such as sarcoidosis. Most adults selected for Growth Hormone therapy should have an easily recognized cause, clear-cut clinical features of the adult syndrome, and nonrefutable laboratory evidence of Growth Hormone Deficiency. Such patients clearly have Growth Hormone Deficiency and would most likely benefit from GH replacement therapy.

• Growth Hormone starts to decrease after ages fifteen through twenty and declines rapidly thereafter.
• Low levels of Growth Hormone as we age are believed to be associated with everything from low energy to weight gain (fat) and decreased muscle mass.
• In 1990, Dr. Rudman reported in the New England Journal of Medicine his pioneering experiments with the use of Growth Hormone in elderly veterans.
• Dr. Rudman discovered that with the use of Growth Hormone for six months, their body fat decreased and their lean muscle mass, strength, skin thickness and bone density increased. He was able to slow down the usual progression of aging by increasing his patient's blood levels to the level of a younger age group.
• Other studies have since been done that confirm his findings.
• Growth Hormone is measured as insulin-like growth factor(IGF).
• IGF levels are fairly constant in the blood and can be measured more easily than growth hormone. An IGF level is measured to assess the amount of circulating growth hormone in the body.
• Contraindications to the use of Growth Hormone include, but are not limited to: the presence of cancer or tumor; uncontrolled diabetes; and unusual lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, pneumoconiosis, bronchiolitis obliterans, Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, or systemic sclerosis.
• Dr. Casas offers evidence based medicine treatment options for the natural optimization of Human Growth Hormone production, if clinically indicated.