The present retrospective study is based on a historical follow-up of 49 boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) who went into puberty spontaneously (27 cases) or induced by depotestosterone treatment, 50 mg/ month for 6 months (22 cases). At the time of puberty the two groups of boys were similar in bone age, height deficiency, target height (TH) and had similar predicted final heights (FH). Their FH was measured and compared with TH calculated from measured parents' heights. FH did not significantly differ between the untreated boys and those treated. In the two groups of patients FH was similar and corresponded to both TH and height predicted at puberty onset. This study confirms that most boys with CDGP spontaneously attain a FH within the target range (24/27 cases). A short-term and low dose course of depotestosterone can be used without adverse effects on FH. The Bayley-Pinneau method can be generally considered accurate for predicting FH in CDGP, although significant discrepancies between FH and predicted height have been recorded in a fair number of both untreated and treated boys.

We report the diagnostic clinical features and their long term evolution in 32 patients with McCune-Albright syndrome. Patient data are made up of two periods: the first, classified as personal history, is from birth until the time when the diagnosis of McCune-Albright syndrome was made; the second, classified as clinical observation, is from the first observation until the end of follow up. The total duration of these two periods was 9.6+/-2.9 yr; mean age at first observation was 5.7 yr (range 0.7-11 yr). The probability of manifesting main clinical signs according to age was calculated: almost all had skin dysplasia at birth, 50% probability of peripheral precocious puberty in females at 4 years and 50% of bone dysplasia at 8 years of age were found. Other clinical signs had diagnostic relevance when preceding the main signs leading to diagnosis of McCune-Albright syndrome even without specific genetic investigation. The most important clinical manifestations have different evolutions: skin lesions increase in dimensions according to body growth; precocious puberty in females evolves rapidly but periods of regression can be seen in some patients; bone dysplasia in most patients evolves with an increase both in the number of affected bones and in the severity of lesions.

The decreased flow velocity in hypertensive patients may result from a peripheral vasospasm in the vessels of the eye and orbit. This decreased flow velocity may be important in eyes that already have ocular disease. Improvement in flow velocity was noted with oral trandolapril but it did not reach the levels seen in normal controls.