Dr. Massimo Spattini

GH can make one’s life longer by protecting from cardiovascular diseases. Bengtsson et al. have published a study carried out on 333 patients suffering from hypopituitarism (the pituitary gland can no longer generate the necessary hormones). The patients underwent hormonal substitutive therapy including cortisol, thyroid hormones and sexual hormones. The only non-reintroduced hormone was GH. The study lasted 30 years, and during this time the mortality of the subjects was twice as much as the average life-expectancy of the normal population. The main cause of death was cardiovascular. These effects are reversible by decreasing the dose or suspending treatment. As for the possibility that – since GH stimulates cell proliferation – it can favour not the genesis but the growth of an existing tumour, there is no scientific evidence. Instead, there are conditions indicating that in people suffering from hyposomatism, it can have a preventive effect in tumour genesis thanks to its capacity to enhance the immune system, more specifically lymphocytes, natural killers which protect the body against tumour cells. However, since there are no final answers, it is better not to treat oncological patients with GH substitutive therapy.