[Long-term therapy of true precocious puberty in girls using Decapetyl-Depot, a superactive gonadoliberin agonist in depot microcapsulated form].

Within the framework of an international prospective multicentre study 93 girls with gonadotropin-dependent precocious puberty were treated with Decapeptyl-Depot LHRH agonist (75 micrograms/kg, once a month by the i.m. route). This treatment led to prompt, immediate and long-term suppression of the pituitary-ovarian axis with subsequent regression of premature onset of secondary sex signs, to the arrest of premature menstruation, to normalization of the pathologically accelerated growth and inhibition of the accelerated bone maturation. This improved the mean expected growth during the first four years of treatment from 159 to 165 cm (p < or = 0.01). Concurrently in the majority complete normalization of the severely impaired mental condition of the affected girls due to the premature onset of puberty occurred (mean onset of puberty -4.5 years). Selective suppression of the pubertally increased gonadotropin secretion was even after prolonged treatment fully reversible after termination of treatment with a subsequent onset of normal puberty and cyclic ovarian activity. Undesirable side-effects and antibodies against Decapeptyl were not detected, the local tolerance of the injected microcapsules was satisfactory. GnRH agonists in depot form are becoming, due to their superior suppressive action incl. that on bone maturation, the drug of choice in long-term treatment of central precocious puberty as they are the first which mitigate or can prevent, if treatment is started in time, a final small stature which frequently is the greatest handicap for a life-time (frequently associated with adverse bodily disproportions).