Pediatric endocrinology focuses on diagnosing and treating hormone and endocrine system disorders in children and teens. Because these conditions can differ from those seen in adults, children benefit from care that's tailored to their unique needs.

Our pediatric endocrinologists have specialized training to diagnose and manage endocrine disorders, working closely with families to create personalized treatment plans.

Our pediatric endocrinology team diagnoses and treats a wide range of hormonal and endocrine conditions, including:

• Diabetes
• Cancer-related hormonal problems
• Genetic conditions
• Metabolic disorders
• Adrenal gland disorders
• Growth and bone disorders
• Pubertal disorders
• Thyroid disorders
• Parathyroid disorders
• Reproductive and sexual health conditions

Learn more about the conditions we treat below.

Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most common hormonal conditions we treat. Children with diabetes have high blood sugar, also called blood glucose. It happens because their pancreas makes little to no insulin, or their body can’t use insulin well. 

Insulin helps glucose get into cells to use as energy. When glucose can’t get into cells, it stays inside the blood, causing diabetes. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to eye, nerve, kidney, and heart damage. 

The different types of diabetes we care for include:

• Type 1 diabetes: This is the most common type of diabetes in children. An autoimmune disease, it happens when the body’s immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Children with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin daily to manage their blood glucose and stay alive.
• Type 2 diabetes, including pre-diabetes: Childhood obesity can increase your child’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle changes and medication can prevent, control, and even reverse this type.
• Rare types: This includes drug-induced or transplant-related diabetes and MODY/monogenic diabetes.

Cancer-related hormonal problems

Kids who go through pediatric cancer care often develop problems with their hormones long after cancer treatment ends. Radiation therapy and cancer surgery that target the head and neck and endocrine glands have the biggest impact. Certain cancer medicines can also cause hormonal problems.

Genetic conditions 

These happen with changes to the DNA or building blocks of cells. Overall, these conditions are rare. Some are inherited or passed down from parent to child. Others happen randomly.

Genetic conditions we treat include:

• DiGeorge syndrome: This can cause thyroid and growth problems.
• Klinefleter syndrome: This condition in boys can cause delayed puberty, undescended testicles, and smaller than normal penis growth. It can also get in the way of muscle and hair growth. Sometimes boys can develop breasts during puberty.
• Turner syndrome: This condition in girls can cause problems with growth, development, learning, and social skills. Girls are often short in stature. They may develop heart, hearing, lymph vessel, and puberty problems.
• McCune-Albright syndrome: A mutation in the GNAS gene can cause early puberty, light brown patches on the skin, and scar-like bone called fibrous dysplasia.
• Noonan syndrome: This affects many parts of the body. Among many signs and symptoms, it causes distinct facial and head features, short stature, bleeding problems, bone problems, and sunken chest and heart defects.
• Prader-Willi syndrome: In infants and toddlers, this can cause muscle weakness and failure to thrive. As children get older, it can cause excessive eating and obesity. It can lead to problems with bone density, adrenal insufficiency, growth hormone deficiency, hypothyroidism, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.
• Silver-Russel syndrome (SRS): SRS causes slow growth before and after birth. Infants and children may have severe feeding problems and fail to thrive. They have short stature and develop body asymmetries, including spinal curve, or scoliosis, and a head that’s larger than normal for body size. They may face motor and speech delays and psychosocial problems.
• Williams syndrome: This causes intellectual disability or learning problems, distinct facial features and personality traits, and heart and blood vessel problems.

Metabolic disorders

Childhood obesity can lead to metabolic health problems in kids and teens. This includes:

• High triglyceride levels in the blood: This can cause pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas. It can also lead to liver and heart disease.
• High cholesterol levels in the blood: Over time this can cause build up of plaque in the arteries. It increases a child’s risk of heart disease and heart attack as adults in their 40s and older.
• Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS): This condition can affect hormone and metabolic health in children and teens. It may cause irregular periods, excess hair growth, acne, and other symptoms related to hormone changes.

Adrenal gland disorders

An adrenal gland sits on top of each of your kidneys. These small glands make hormones that help keep you healthy and alive. Adrenal disorders happen when your body makes too much or too little of one or more of these hormones.

The different types of adrenal gland disorders we treat include:

• Adrenal tumors: Growths on your adrenal glands. Some are benign, or not cancerous. Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare pediatric cancer.
• Adrenal insufficiency: This causes fatigue, decreased appetite, weight loss, and muscle weakness. It includes Addison’s disease—when you don’t make enough cortisol or aldosterone hormones. Some children are born with adrenal insufficiency. It’s an inherited disorder called congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH.
• Cushing's syndrome: When you have too much cortisol hormone. This can happen because of a tumor that triggers extra cortisol or hormone medicine your child takes for an inflammatory disease. It can cause upper body obesity but thin arms and legs. It also causes high blood pressure and blood sugar and severe muscle weakness and fatigue.

Growth and bone disorders

Growth disorders keep kids from reaching normal height, weight, sexual maturity, and other problems. 

Common growth conditions we treat include:

• Growth hormone disorders: The pituitary gland produces growth hormone, which helps bones and other tissues grow. Too little growth hormone can cause growth hormone deficiency, which may affect growth and development. Too much growth hormone, often caused by a pituitary tumor, can lead to gigantism.
• Bone disorders: Bone conditions can affect how your child's bones grow, develop, and stay strong. This includes osteoporosis, rickets, osteogenesis imperfecta, skeletal dysplasia, and metabolic bone disease.
• Calcium-mineral disorders: Calcium is important for healthy bones and normal body function. Too little or too much calcium can affect growth and bone development. This includes hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia.
• Vitamin D deficiency: Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and build strong bones. Too little vitamin D can affect your child's growth and bone health.

Pubertal disorders

Puberty happens when children’s bodies start to mature into adult bodies. Different health issues can cause these changes to come earlier or later than normal.

Pubertal disorders we treat include:

• Premature adrenarche: This is when children start to develop pubic and underarm hair, acne, and adult body odor early. For girls, this means before age 8. For boys, this means before age 9.
• Early puberty: Also called precocious puberty, early puberty occurs when a girl begins puberty before age 8 or a boy before age 9. In addition to the signs above, girls may develop breasts, while boys may experience enlargement of the testicles and penis.
• Delayed puberty: In girls, this is when they have not developed breasts by age 13. In boys, it’s when their testicles and penis have not enlarged by age 14.

Thyroid disorders

Your thyroid is a gland in the front of your neck that produces hormones that help regulate growth, metabolism, and other body functions.

Thyroid conditions we treat include:

• Hyperthyroidism: When your child's thyroid makes more thyroid hormones than the body needs. It speeds up their metabolism, causing weight loss, sleep problems, and a feeling of nervousness.
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis: An autoimmune disease that happens when the immune system attacks healthy cells in the thyroid. This keeps the thyroid from making the hormones your body needs. It's the most common cause of hypothyroidism in children.
• Thyroid cancer: Although rare in children, thyroid cancer begins in the thyroid gland and is often highly treatable, especially when found early.

Parathyroid disorders

Your parathyroid glands are 4 small glands located behind the thyroid. They produce parathyroid hormone, which helps regulate calcium levels in the blood and bones.

Parathyroid conditions we treat include:

• Hyperparathyroidism: When your child's parathyroid glands produce too much parathyroid hormone. This can affect calcium levels and bone health.
• Hypoparathyroidism: When your child's parathyroid glands don't produce enough parathyroid hormone. This can lead to low calcium levels and affect bone and muscle function.

Reproductive and sexual health concerns

We help children and teens with:

• Disorders of sex development (DSDs): DSDs are a group of conditions where the outside genitals (penis, scrotum, labia, vulva) don’t match the inside genitals (testes, ovaries, vagina).
• Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS): This affects sexual development before birth and during puberty. It affects male sex hormones called androgens. Children with AIS may have outside genitalia typical of girls or of both girls and boys. In complete AIS, children can have outside female genitalia but have undescended testicles instead of a uterus. Partial or mild AIS cause different outside and inside genitalia. All forms can cause fertility problems later in life.

For most conditions, we can provide all the services your child needs in one location.

Diagnostic testing we provide include:

• Onsite laboratory services: We offer a range of laboratory testing, including:
  • Point-of-care hemoglobin A1C testing with immediate results
  • Stimulation testing, including growth hormone, ACTH, and leuprolide testing
• Onsite radiology: We provide imaging tests to help diagnose certain conditions.

Treatments we provide include:

• Diabetes monitoring: We provide insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and data interpretation. Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar can happen when your child takes more insulin than they need. Advances in technology help monitor for this dangerous condition.
• Guidance and support for lifestyle changes: This includes registered dietician services, certified diabetes education and management, and prediabetes care. 
• Teplizumab infusions: For certain children, this can help prevent type 1 diabetes.
• Bisphosphate infusions: For conditions that affect bone growth and development.
• Specialty endocrine medication: We can treat and manage many conditions with medication.
• Genetic testing: We use genetic testing to help us figure out what’s causing some hormonal problems. It looks for DNA changes that are passed down from parents to their child. It can also help us decide which treatment may help.