Precocious Puberty Following Traumatic Brain Injury in Early Childhood: A Review of the Literature.

AIMS OF THE REVIEW: The intent of the current manuscript is to review the cases of central precocious puberty (CPP) in early childhood following traumatic brain injury (TBI). SEARCH OF THE LITERATURE: The MEDLINE database was accessed through PubMed in April 2015. Results were not restricted to the date and language of the articles. For the first search we utilized MeSH terms "precocious puberty" in conjunction with "traumatic brain injury" and with "endocrine consequences". Reference lists were reviewed and relevant papers were also consulted to find additional studies and data. In selected cases the corresponding author was contacted by email.

RESULTS: In our systematic review, only a few case reports or small case series have highlighted a link between TBI and hypothalamic-pituitary hormone abnormalities. Fourteen reported children were females and 8 were males. The majority of patients reported had severe TBI, assessed by Glasgow Coma Scale or structural injury (skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhage or cerebral injury) reported on computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans. The pathogenic mechanism of precocious puberty has not yet been determined. An increased pressure on the hypothalamic-pituitary area with loss of normal childhood hypothalamic inhibition of pituitary gonadotropins could be one of the factors responsible for CPP after TBI.

CONCLUSIONS: The current review highlights the importance of close clinical follow-up to evaluate the rate of linear growth and pubertal development after TBI. Although, precocious puberty appears to be rare after TBI, prevalence should ideally be assessed by longitudinal follow-up of a large population. Therefore, further multicenter and multidisciplinary studies are required to explore in detail the true incidence and the possible mechanisms of CPP after TBI. Because precocious puberty can be detected on clinical assessment during childhood, a pragmatic approach would be for family physicians to monitor growth and development in children after TBI. Inasmuch as precocity is mediated through the hypothalamic-pituitary pathways, use of LH-RH analogue therapy should be effective in arresting pubertal progression.