rhGH use in children with CRI and undergoing dialysis post-transplant in Japan: a multicentre study. MultiCenter Study Group Japan.

We evaluated the effect of rhGH at both 0.5 and 1.0 i.u./kg/week, on the growth of 83 CRI (pre- and dialysis) and 23 transplanted children after one year. Growth velocity (GV) was significantly increased in predialysis children on a dose of 0.5 i.u. (p < 0.001), from 3.8cm/year at baseline to 7.8cm/year at six months and 7.3cm/year at one year. On a dose of 1.0 i.u., GV was increased from 4.5cm/year at baseline to 10.3cm/year at six months and 8.7cm/year at one year (p < 0.01). When the increment in GV was compared a significant difference was noted between 0.5 i.u. and 0.1 i.u. at both six and 12 months (p < 0.01). GV was also significantly increased in dialysed children treated with 0.5 i.u., from 3.5cm/year to 5.6cm/year at six months (p < 0.01) and 5.4cm/year at one year (p < 0.01). On a dose of 1.0 i.u., the increase was from 3.4 to 8.4cm/year at six months (p < 0.001) and 8.3cm/year at one year (p < 0.01). There was a significant difference in GV between the 0.5 and 1.0 i.u. groups at both six and 12 months (p < 0.01). In transplanted children, GV was significantly improved over one year of GH treatment from 5.0 to 7.7cm/year at 0.5 i.u. (p < 0.05) and from 3.7 to 6.3cm/year at 1.0 i.u. (p < 0.05); however, there was no statistical difference between the groups. Seven out of 23 children showed evidence of deterioration of graft function during rhGH treatment. This was due to acute rejection (AR) in every case. AR was noted in two of 10 children (20%) in the 0.5 i.u. group and five of 13 children (38%) in the 1.0 i.u. group. Our results demonstrate that rhGH effectively stimulates GV, not only in CRI, but also in dialysed children. Attention should, however, be paid to deterioration of renal function.