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Central precocious puberty: evaluation by neuroimaging
L Kornreich1, G Horev, S Blaser
1Department of Pediatric Imaging, Children's Medical Center of Israel, Beilinson Medical Campus, Petah Tiqva.
Insights
Central precocious puberty in children can present with abnormal brain findings. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is recommended for investigating this condition.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Neuroradiology
- Child Neurology
Background:
- Central precocious puberty (CPP) involves early onset of puberty due to central nervous system activation.
- Intracranial abnormalities are increasingly recognized as potential underlying causes of CPP.
- Accurate diagnostic imaging is crucial for identifying these pathologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the frequency of abnormal intracranial findings in children diagnosed with CPP.
- To compare the diagnostic utility of different neuroimaging techniques in evaluating CPP.
- To establish guidelines for optimal neuroimaging in pediatric CPP cases.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 62 children (51 girls, 11 boys) with CPP underwent brain imaging.
- Computerized tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were utilized.
- Clinical data and imaging results were correlated to assess findings.
Main Results:
- Eighteen out of 62 children (29%) exhibited intracranial pathologies.
- Common findings included hamartoma of the tuber cinereum (8 cases) and parenchymal loss (3 cases).
- Other identified lesions involved the hypothalamic-chiasmatic region, corpus callosum, and suprasellar/pineal cysts.
Conclusions:
- A significant proportion of children with CPP present with identifiable intracranial abnormalities.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated superior efficacy in detecting these lesions compared to CT.
- The study recommends MRI as the primary imaging modality for the etiological investigation of central precocious puberty in children.
Abstract:
To evaluate the incidence of abnormal intracranial findings in children with central precocious puberty, 62 children (51 girls, 11 boys) were examined by computerized tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Forty-four had normal examinations; 18 (11 girls, 7 boys) showed intracranial pathologies, including hamartoma of the tuber cinereum (8 cases), parenchymal loss (3 cases), hypothalamic-chiasmatic lesions (2 cases), lesions of the corpus callosum (2 cases), suprasellar cyst (1 case), and pineal cyst and mesiotemporal sclerosis (1 case each). Based on the correlation between the clinical and the imaging results of this series, the authors recommend MRI as the imaging method of choice in the investigation of precocious puberty.