MEETING ABSTRACT Open Access Whether the administration of thyroid hormones may play a role in the treatment of short stature?

Normal thyroid hormone secretion or optimal substitu-tion of L-thyroxine is necessary for the proper func-tioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-IGF-I axis. Over 30 years ago Cacciari et al. [1] indicated a slight risk of inducing an alteration of thyroid function in patients with GH deficiency during hGH therapy and recovery of thyroxine (T4) and trijodthyronine (T3) values to normal limits during follow-up. The rGH therapy might disclose previously unrecognised thyroid insufficiency rather than induce hypothyroidism [2,3]. The phenomenon of unmasking central hypothyroid-ism after the beginning of rGH therapy in some children with previous diagnosis of isolated GH-deficiency was described. Changes in TSH secretion during initial phase of the rGH therapy are less evident than fluctuations of FT