Word: dwarfism
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Since early childhood, Erick Carstensen, 14, has suffered because of his stature: he is a victim of hereditary dwarfism. Brick's contemporaries, who generally towered over him, excluded him from their games. Teachers were often equally unsympathetic, calling him "Shorty" and browbeating him for his inability to keep up with his classmates in physical education. Even the doctors consulted by his parents provided little in the way of relief. According to Erick's mother, Mrs. Dorothy Carstensen of Los Angeles: "They'd all say the same thing: 'Don't worry about...
...have experienced. But that is only because he has had expert medical help; six months ago, his mother enrolled him in the dwarf clinic operated by the University of California at Los Angeles, the only facility in the world devoted exclusively to the treatment and study of dwarfism. There, twice a week, he receives an injection of a pituitary hormone, the primary substance that triggers human growth. He has grown 2½ in. (to 4 ft. 10 in.) since treatment was started, and the clinic doctors are confident that he will now reach a height of at least five feet...
...hormone producers, the pituitary is the master gland. It exercises control or influence over virtually every biological function-including growth-by manufacturing substances that help control the other glands and organs. Thus an underactive pituitary in a child can arrest bodily development and produce a form of dwarfism. Last week a discovery was announced that could not only enable doctors to treat more cases of this disorder but also produce ways to deal with other illnesses and injuries...
...discovery could also have some immediate applications. Dwarfism and other forms of pituitary deficiency now affect hundreds of thousands in the U.S. alone. Doctors believe that more than 1,000 children a year could benefit from a ready supply of growth-producing hormones. Hormone shots, which can speed up growth by as much as five inches a year, now each require the output of a single pituitary gland. The demand far exceeds the supply of cadavers...
Whether a whole chromosome or a single gene or a group of genes is responsible, genetic defects can affect every part of the human body and the mind. Dr. Victor McKusick of Johns Hopkins, the world's leading expert on dwarfism, supplied a forbidding list: abnormalities of the skeleton, of the innumerable enzyme systems, of the nervous system, of blood cells, both red and white, of clotting mechanisms, of the hormone systems, of the kidneys, of the intestinal tract, and of the muscles. The eyes and ears are also susceptible-there are about 40 varieties of hereditary deafness, said...