Pulsatile LH-RH administration induces puberty in hypogonadotropic GH-deficient patients.

Three growth hormone (GH) deficient males with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism were treated with pulsatile luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) administration. In two of them, the GH deficiency was idiopathic, but in the other it was secondary, caused by suprasellar germinoma. In response to LH-RH therapy, the serum testosterone (T), testicular volume, and body height increased in all three patients, and normal serum T levels and spermatogenesis were achieved in two patients. Gonadotropin responses to an LH-RH test preceding therapy did not seem to be an accurate predictor of the success of LH-RH therapy. We conclude that GH-deficient patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism can be expected to achieve normal pubertal development and spermatogenesis with pulsatile LH-RH administration.