While most parents would be happy to see their children growing fast, they should be alert to unusual growth spurts that could be indicative of other medical conditions, a Taipei doctor said.
Chinese Medical University Children’s Hospital doctor Hsieh Hsiu-ying (謝秀盈) said that two years ago, a boy underwent a sudden growth spurt at the age of nine, standing about half a head taller than other boys his age.
The boy also went into puberty and grew at levels consistent with those of a 13-year-old.
The family consulted a doctor, who discovered a malignant brain tumor that was stimulating the boy’s pituitary gland and causing premature development, Hsieh said.
After administering injections and radiation therapy, doctors were able to get his growth under control, Hsieh said.
“This boy had quite a small frame to begin with. Two years ago he developed a hearty appetite and started developing rapidly. The father, feeling something was wrong, brought the boy to a doctor. At the time the boy had already grown to 142.6cm in height, well beyond the 135cm average for his age. His sexual maturity had reached stage 3 of the five stages of development, and his hormone levels went through the roof,” Hsieh said.
Further tests revealed a 1.5cm tumor stimulating the nearby pituitary gland, resulting in rapid growth because of the excessive release of hormones. The tumor was also putting pressure on the optic nerve and affecting vision in his left eye.
After four months of radiation therapy and injections to control hormone release, no sign of the tumor remained, Hsieh said.
Doctors said that although they were able to eradicate the tumor, about six months ago, the boy showed signs of slow growth and was given hormone supplements to compensate.
Now 11, he has grown to a height of 152.5cm, which doctors say is normal for his age.
“Early puberty is occurring at a higher rate. In 10 percent of observed cases this is due to tumors in the brain or sexual organs that cause an excessive release of hormones. The other 90 percent of cases are the result of dietary issues, such as overconsumption of fast food,” Hsieh said.
She added that the normal age of puberty is between nine and 14 years old for boys, and between eight and 13 years old for girls.
If development begins too soon it will also end earlier, which could lead to a child being shorter than average, Hsieh said.
Doctors advise parents to consult a doctor if they notice their child growing more than 6cm in a year.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods