Gigantism
March 17th, 2009
Gigantism is a condition characterized by excessive physical growth. It is caused by over secretion of growth hormone. There are various forms of gigantism based on the cause for the same namely pituitary gigantism and cerebral gigantism. Pituitary gigantism is caused by excess growth hormone in the body and the latter is caused due to genetic mutation. Cerebral gigantism is also known as Sotos syndrome. The most commonly observed symptoms of this defect are delayed puberty, prominent jaw increased sweating, large hands, thickening of facial feature, weakness and irregular periods. If the reason of malfunctioning of the gland is presence of a tumor, it can be removed with the help of surgery otherwise if mutation is the reason, people go for radiation therapy.