It is a medical speciality dealing with endocrine glands in children and adolescent. Endocrine glands are group of special glands in our body which secrete special hormones. These hormones are needed for various body activities like growth, development, normal blood glucose levels, male and female sex hormones, stress hormones, bone health and optimal energy to keep our health in good condition.
At Silver Line Clinics, our specialist and multidisciplinary clinics provide care for patients with a wide array of endocrine disorders. Patients are seen in the new purpose-built Endocrinology Clinic, catering to all age groups from the newborn to elderly under one roof. Our aim is to provide clinical excellence in the diagnosis, management, treatment and counselling of patients with endocrine disorders.
Children who are short for the family and general population could be due to certain medical conditions. This needs to be promptly investigated and treated. Some of these conditions could be treated with growth hormone therapy to improve the height.
Children who develop pubertal changes before 8 yrs in girls and 9 yrs in boys indicate
abnormality. These children would need further investigation and treatment with hormone
injections to help them physically and psychologically.
Similarly they can have delayed puberty onset, which means absence of puberty changes by
13 yrs in girls and 14 yrs in boys. They also would need medical evaluation and treatment
with hormones to induce puberty.
Low levels of Vitamin D are found to be very common in the general population and more so ever in children. It is very important vitamin in children as it can affect the bone health with mild being aches and pains and severe being bony deformities. It also causes many non specific symptoms such as tiredness, muscle cramps and headaches.
Assessment of important endocrine glands in our body such as pituitary, adrenal, ovaries and testis. These are special endocrine tests to diagnose certain endocrine conditions, done by giving certain hormones to the child and looking for response from the endocrine glands in the form of blood test.
It is the most common endocrine problem in children. It can be either high or low blood sugar, both of which are dangerous for children. High blood sugars indicates diabetes which could be in various types such as type 1, type 2, neonatal (new born babies) and MODY. Low blood sugars could indicate serious underlying problems which if not recognised can lead to life threatening problems and brain damage.
Obesity in children is becoming fast growing problem in India especially in our cities. Majority of them are due to life style issues and some of them could be due to certain medical conditions. Either way they should be acknowledged and intervened to avoid serious metabolic complications such as diabetes, liver failure and high cholesterol.
Pituitary gland is a small gland in our brain. It is known as master gland as it controls
all other endocrine glands. It produces various hormones which interact with other
endocrine glands. Certain conditions could affect this gland such as post brain
surgery, radiation therapy, head injury, absent gland development from birth etc.
They can manifest in several ways such as short stature, delayed puberty, thyroid
problems and lack of energy.
Children who have survived cancer and have undergone brain surgery, Chemotherapy or radiation treatments are prone for endocrine problems. They would need active monitoring of endocrine gland functions.
Rarely babies are born with uncertain genital identity with abnormal looking external genitalia, neither appearing as a girl nor boy. This could indicate serious underlying endocrine hormone imbalance and would prompt a thorough endocrine evaluation.
Adrenal gland secretes one of the important hormones called cortisol or stress hormone. Its deficiency can be life threatening. They present as lack of energy, tiredness, darkening of skin and slow to recover from minor illness.
Providing a smooth and worry free transition from paediatric to adult endocrine service depending on the psychological maturity age of the adolescent