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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThe primary treatments for nearly all girls and women include hormone therapies:
- Growth hormone. Growth hormone therapy is recommended for most girls with Turner syndrome. The goal of this therapy is to increase height as much as possible at appropriate times during your daughter's childhood and adolescence. Growth hormone treatment is usually given several times a week as small, measured injections of somatropin (Humatrope, Genotropin).
- Estrogen therapy. Most girls with Turner syndrome need to begin estrogen and related hormone therapy in order to begin puberty and achieve adult sexual development. Estrogen replacement therapy usually continues throughout life, until a woman reaches the average age of menopause.
Transition to adult care
It's important to help your daughter prepare for the transition from care with your family doctor or pediatrician to her own adult medical care. Her physician will continue to coordinate care among a number of specialists throughout her life. Regular checkups have shown substantial improvements in the quality and length of life for women with Turner syndrome. Particular problems that often arise during adulthood include hearing loss, high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Pregnancy and fertility treatment
Few women with Turner syndrome can become pregnant without fertility treatment. Those who can are still likely to experience failure of the ovaries and subsequent infertility very early in adulthood. Therefore, it's important to discuss timing of pregnancy with your doctor.
Some women with Turner syndrome can become pregnant with the donation of an egg or embryo. This requires a specially designed hormone therapy to prepare the uterus for pregnancy.
In most cases, women with Turner syndrome have relatively high-risk pregnancies. It's important to discuss those risks with your doctor.
- Learning about Turner syndrome. National Human Genome Research Institute. http://www.genome.gov/19519119. Accessed June 28, 2009.
- Hjerrild BE, et al. Turner syndrome and clinical treatment. British Medical Bulletin. 2008;86:77.
- Turner syndrome. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. http://turners.nichd.nih.gov/clinical.html. Accessed June 28, 2009.
- Bondy CA. Care of girls and women with Turner syndrome: A guideline of the Turner Syndrome Study Group. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2007;92:10.
- Loscalzo ML. Turner syndrome. Pediatrics in Review. 2008;29:219.
- Morgan T. Turner syndrome: Diagnosis and management. American Family Physician. 2007;76:405.
