Growth hormone is an anabolic hormone that causes increased cell growth, positive nitrogen and calcium balance, lipolysis, hyperglycemia, and promotes protein synthesis. Its beneficial effect in burn treatment was proven particularly in children, by Herndon's group. The authors report The case of a 12-year-old boy with an electrical arc burn of 81% of the BSA, 60% of the BSA being full thickness loss. Recombinant human growth hormone (Norditropin, Novo Nordisk) was administered at daily doses of 0.52 i.u./kg starting on day 19 post-burn for 15 consecutive days. The treatment was well tolerated except for mild insulinoresistance, which could be easily corrected by slightly increasing the insulin added to glucose solutions. After 56 days of intensive care treatment and several excision and grafting procedures, the majority of burns were healed.

Ruzinov General Hospital Bratislava Slovakia