Histrelin for central precocious puberty—a single surgeon experience

BackgroundThe most common cause of precocious puberty is idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP), which is usually treated with monthly injections. An alternative treatment of precious puberty is a subcutaneous implant that contains histrelin acetate, which is continuously released for more than 1 y and then removed or replaced with a new implant.MethodsThe aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective review of one surgeon's experience with the histrelin implant and to examine patient satisfaction. After obtaining institutional review board approval, the charts of all children who had undergone at least one implant were reviewed.ResultsFifty-eight children, average age 8.4 y old (range 7–14), underwent at least one histrelin implant insertion for treatment of CPP. Parents of 44 patients were able to be reached by telephone for this study and rated the histrelin implant treatment highly. All implants were placed, replaced, or removed without significant difficulty, and there were no complications.ConclusionsThis study suggests that the use of a histrelin subcutaneous implant for control of CPP is a safe and effective method for the treatment of this condition.