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Radiology => Ultrasound => Dwarfism
Dwarfism
Dwarfism, in medicine, condition of being undersized, or less than 127 cm (50 in) in height. Some dwarfs have been less than 64 cm (24 in) tall when fully grown. The term midget is usually applied to physically well-proportioned dwarfs. The term pygmy is applied to people whose shortness of stature is a racial trait and not caused by disease.
Cretinism, a result of a disease of the thyroid gland, is the cause of most dwarfism in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Other causes of dwarfism are Down syndrome, a congenital condition with symptoms similar to those of cretinism; achondroplasia, a disease characterized by short extremities resulting from absorption of cartilaginous tissue during the fetal stage; hypochondroplasia, a milder form of achondroplasia; spinal tuberculosis; and deficiency of the secretions of the pituitary gland or of the ovary. Geneticists have recently found the gene responsible for achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia, the most common forms of dwarfism.
Treatment of cretinism with thyroxine or thyroid extract early in infancy results in normal growth and development. Pituitary dwarfism is successfully treated by administering human growth hormone.
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