[Adrenocortical function in children with connective tissue syndromes and funnel chest deformation]

Measurement of the content of C-21-corticosteroids in the diurnal urine by thin-layer chromatography has demonstrated that in children with isolated and syndromal forms of funnel-like chest deformation, grades II and III, adrenocortical function is decreased. In preschool children, such a decrease is accompanied by proneness to the tense biosynthesis of glucocorticoids. Children with congenital hereditary connective syndromes manifest adrenocortical dysfunction, most characteristic of Marfan's syndrome, and, to a less degree, of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and unclassified complex of developmental defects with the Marfan-like phenotype. In view of this fact, the children with Marfan's, Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and with the unclassified complex of developmental defects with the Marfan-like phenotype and children with funnel-like chest deformation, grades II and III, should be given glucocorticoid hormones in stressful conditions (severe diseases, traumas, operations).