The Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Children’s Hospital engages in studying hormone secreted by our endocrine glands and treating inappropriate secretion of hormones.

The endocrine organs of our body include hypothalamus and pituitary gland as well as thyroid glands, parathyroid glands, pancreas, adrenal glands, ovary, testicles, and osseous tissue. The abnormality of these endocrine organs results in endocrine disorders such as hormone deficiency or excess.

For accurate diagnosis and treatment of such pediatric endocrine disorders which are considered a special field even within pediatrics, a lot of experienced specialists in pediatric endocrinology and metabolism are needed. In particular since most of these diseases require long-term or lifelong treatment, the role of medical professionals is very important.

Also specialists in pediatric endocrinology and metabolism as well as experts in each field such as nutritionists, sports health medicine specialists, and social workers team up to provide integrated and systematic medical services.

The Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism covers the following diseases:

Short stature & growth disorder

Children with short stature are defined as those in the third percentile below the mean height for age and sex, those with a growth velocity less than 4cm per year, and those shorter than the mid-parental height. We help them to live healthy life physically and emotionally by identifying the causes of developmental delay to treat them.

Pubertal development abnormalities

Pubertal development is an endocrine activity that occurs in consecutive order. This makes children develop their sexual development and reproductive abilities. If sexual development is too fast or late, they will experience diverse physical and mental problems. Especially precocious puberty may reduce adult height potential, so it needs to be treated properly. Meanwhile delayed puberty may be caused by medical problems which required treatment as well.

Pediatric thyroid diseases

Thyroid hormone involves diverse metabolic activities in our body and is especially important for body growth and development. Untreated congenital hypothyroidism may cause intelligence decline while acquired hypothyroidism that happen in school-aged children may lead to short stature. Moreover, hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer are likely to occur in children.

Juvenile diabetes

Diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin, so that cannot effectively use the insulin. Especially, Type 1 Diabetes which is also called juvenile diabetes takes place because of deficient insulin production and needs to take insulin injections for the rest of life. If patients fail to control blood sugar, they will later suffer from complications such as diabetic retinopathy or renal failure. Therefore they require constant care by specialists.

Childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is rapidly increasing due to the change in diets and lifestyles following economic development. Overweight in childhood is likely to increase the risk of adult obesity, and diabetic complications may cause children and adolescents adult diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes. For this reason, it is very important to detect childhood obesity in early stage to treat it.

Adrenal disorders

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a genetic condition that fails to produce cortisol and aldosterone due to congenital enzyme deficiency which should have been created in an adrenal. It may show various symptoms as the production of cortisol which is stress hormone and aldosterone which regulates the salt and water balance of the body decreases while the production of male hormone increases. It also requires definite diagnosis, genetic counseling, and active treatment through gene analysis for life-long treatment.

Disorders of sexual differentiation

If it is difficult to determine one’s gender at birth with the appearance of genitals, it is required to give accurate diagnosis to identify its cause and make an appropriate sex determination and treatment.

Metabolic bone diseases

If legs are deformed or growth problem takes place due to vitamin D deficiency or resistance and if convulsion occurs due to calcium deficiency or hypothyroidism, proper treatment must be provided depending on causes. Proper care must be taken also in case of osteoporosis or congenital osteogenesis imperfect which cause frequent fracture.

Other diseases

Hypoglycemia, disorders of water-electrolyte metabolism (e.g. diabetes insipidus, etc.), disorders of pituitary gland.