Evidence for integrity of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 axis in patients with severe head trauma during rehabilitation

What Was Tested

This clinical trial paper looks at IGF-1 LR3.

Most of the data on the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor -1 (GH/IGF-1) axis function have been obtained early after head injury, whereas GH secretory pattern has not been fully elucidated after patients had left the intensive care unit.

The researchers examined the activity of the GH/IGF-1 axis in 16 severely closed head-injured (CHI) patients (14 males; age range, 17 to 47 years; body mass index [BMI], 21.4 +/- 0.8 kg/m(2)) during the rehabilitation period at least 1 month after leaving the intensive care unit and in 12 sex-, age-, and weight-matched healthy controls.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The severity of trauma was assessed by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (8 or less), posttraumatic amnesia (PTA, more than 24 hours), and initial computed tomography (CT) scan.

The clinical picture at time of the study was evaluated by the Rancho Los Amigos Scale of Cognitive Functioning (CFS) and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).

What Was Measured

In all subjects, the researchers evaluated basal levels of anterior pituitary hormones, IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP)-3, and IGFBP-1, as well as the GH responses to intravenous (IV) infusion of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) alone, GHRH plus arginine (ARG), and the GH release evoked by somatostatin (SRIH) infusion withdrawal, which is related to endogenous GHRH tone.

The subject headings attached to it are Arginine, Cognition, Craniocerebral Trauma, Glasgow Coma Scale, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone, Hormone Antagonists and Human Growth Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of IGF-1 LR3.

The publication is from 2002 (Metabolism: clinical and experimental), a journal based in United States.

More context: the IGF-1 LR3 compound page, all human trials.