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- Jennifer Chianese, MD
- Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Bronx, NY
Pediatricians monitor growth as a reflection of a child’s overall health. A disturbance of linear growth may manifest as short stature that is immediately obvious when a child walks through the door or more subtly, when growth is evaluated in the context of other family members or the child’s history of growth. Although short stature may represent a normal variant, it also may signify a serious illness. Clinicians must recognize patterns of aberrant linear growth and sort through the diagnostic features of the many possible causes.
A useful classification scheme separates causes of short stature into those directly involving the growth plate and those in which the growth plate is affected secondarily. Osteochondrodysplasias, such as achondroplasia and spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, act directly on the growth plate. The mechanism of growth retardation in chromosomal abnormalities, such as …
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