Bone maturation and capillary microscopy as indicators for the use of thyroid in childhood allergy
Ratner, B.
Annals of Allergy 11(4): 419-425
1953
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-4738 PMID: 13080867 Document Number: 8380
Studies of the nail fold capillaries and bone retardation are two methods available for. rapid and direct appraisal of hypothyroidism. Capillary microscopy is especially helpful in the study of infants in the early years of life when bone maturation is difficult to appraise and in pubescent children in whom bone development has reached maturity. It is ancillary to a study of osseous development. Bone studies arc best employed in children after the fi rst year and through the prepubital period before epiphyseal fusion is complete. Bone maturation is perhaps the method of choice for it is the most useful single procedure for determining the developmental status of the child. doubt that deviations in skeletal growth bear any direct causal relation to allergy. Although I have implied that a retardation in epiphyseal development and the finding of a typical capillary picture is indicative of a hypothyroid state, this may not be due to lack of thyroid hormone_ hone. I should like to emphasize that children with retarded bone age often respond to the administration of thyroid substance. Whether such a response is due to supplementation of deficient endocrine substance or whether the beneficial effect is due to its dehydrating, calorigenic, appetite-stimulating or sympathico-tonic effect, I am not prepared to state. The thing that has impressed us over the years is the fact that in the treatment of the allergic child the response to thyroid therapy is a rewarding experience.
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