This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Gigantism
Classification and external resources
Anna Haining Bates with her parents
ICD-10	E22.0, E34.4
ICD-9	253.0
DiseasesDB	30730
MedlinePlus	001174
MeSH	D005877

Gigantism, also known as giantism (from Greek gigas, gigantas "giant"), is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average.^[1]

Contents 1 Types 2 Terminology 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Types

As a medical term, gigantism can refer to:

• "Pituitary gigantism", these are people whose hormones overproduce due to prepubertal growth hormone excess. This is sometimes equated with acromegaly, but more precisely, an excess of growth hormone leads to "pituitary gigantism" (vertical growth) if the epiphyseal plates have not yet closed,^[2] but it leads to "acromegaly" (lateral growth) if they have closed.

• "Cerebral gigantism", also known as Sotos syndrome,^[3] which is due to a mutation in NSD1.

[edit] Terminology

The term is typically applied to those whose height is not just in the upper 1% of the population but several standard deviations above mean for persons of the same sex, age, and ethnic ancestry. The term is seldom applied to those who are simply "tall" or "above average" whose heights appear to be the healthy result of normal genetics and nutrition.

Other names somewhat obsolete for this pathology are hypersomia (Greek: hyper over the normal level; soma body) and somatomegaly (Greek; soma body, object pronoun somatos of the body; megas, megalos great).

Many of those who have been identified with gigantism have suffered from multiple health problems involving their circulatory or skeletal system.

[edit] See also

• Acromegaly
• Deep-sea gigantism
• Growth hormone
• Island gigantism
• List of humans with gigantism
• List of tallest people
• Local gigantism
• Megafauna
• Nephilim
• Overgrowth syndrome

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Acromegaly and Gigantism article
• Brief overview of overgrowth syndromes in childhoodPDF (2.95 MiB)

v • d • e Endocrine pathology: endocrine diseases (E00-35, 240-259) Pancreas/ glucose metabolism Hypofunction Diabetes mellitus types: (type 1, type 2, MODY 1 2 3 4 5 6) · complications (coma, angiopathy, ketoacidosis, nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, cardiomyopathy) insulin receptor (Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome) · Insulin resistance Hyperfunction Hypoglycemia · beta cell (Hyperinsulinism) · G cell (Zollinger-Ellison syndrome) Hypothalamic/ pituitary axes Hypothalamus gonadotropin (Kallmann syndrome, Adiposogenital dystrophy) · CRH (Tertiary adrenal insufficiency) · vasopressin (Neurogenic diabetes insipidus) · general (Hypothalamic hamartoma) Pituitary Hyperpituitarism anterior (Acromegaly, Hyperprolactinaemia, Pituitary ACTH hypersecretion) · posterior (SIADH) · general (Nelson's syndrome) Hypopituitarism anterior (Kallmann syndrome, Growth hormone deficiency, ACTH deficiency/Secondary adrenal insufficiency) · posterior (Neurogenic diabetes insipidus) · general (Empty sella syndrome, Pituitary apoplexy, Sheehan's syndrome, Lymphocytic hypophysitis) Thyroid Hypothyroidism Iodine deficiency · Cretinism (Congenital hypothyroidism) · Myxedema · Euthyroid sick syndrome Hyperthyroidism Hyperthyroxinemia (Thyroid hormone resistance, Familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia) · Hashitoxicosis · Thyrotoxicosis factitia · Graves' disease Thyroiditis Acute infectious · Subacute (De Quervain's, Subacute lymphocytic) · Autoimmune/chronic (Hashimoto's, Postpartum, Riedel's) Goitre Endemic goitre · Toxic nodular goitre · Toxic multinodular goitre Thyroid nodule Parathyroid Hypoparathyroidism Pseudohypoparathyroidism Hyperparathyroidism Primary · Secondary · Tertiary · Osteitis fibrosa cystica Adrenal Hyperfunction aldosterone: Hyperaldosteronism/Primary aldosteronism (Conn syndrome, Bartter syndrome, Glucocorticoid remediable aldosteronism) · AME · Liddle's syndrome · 17α CAH cortisol: Cushing's syndrome (Pseudo-Cushing's syndrome) sex hormones: 21α CAH · 11β CAH Hypofunction/ Adrenal insufficiency (Addison's, WF) aldosterone: Hypoaldosteronism (21α CAH, 11β CAH) cortisol: CAH (Lipoid, 3β, 11β, 17α, 21α) sex hormones: 17α CAH Gonads ovarian: Polycystic ovary syndrome · Premature ovarian failure testicular: enzymatic (5-alpha-reductase deficiency, 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency) · Androgen receptor (Androgen insensitivity syndrome) general: Hypogonadism (Delayed puberty) · Hypergonadism (Precocious puberty) Height Gigantism · Dwarfism/Short stature (Laron syndrome, Psychogenic dwarfism) Multiple Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome (APS1, APS2) · Carcinoid syndrome · Multiple endocrine neoplasia (1, 2A, 2B) · Progeria · Woodhouse-Sakati syndrome endocrine navs: anat/physio/dev/hormones, noncongen/congen/neoplasia, symptoms+signs/eponymous, proc