Gigantism overview

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief:

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Gigantism or giantism, (from Greek gigas, gigantas “giant“) is a condition characterized by excessive height growth and size significantly above average height ^[1].Other names somewhat obsolete for this pathology are hypersomia (Greek: hyper over the normal level; soma body)and somatomegaly (Greek; soma body, object pronoun somatos of the body; megas, megalos great).As a medical term, gigantism is rarely used except to refer to the rare condition of pituitary gigantism due to prepubertal growth hormone excess. There is no precise definition of the degree of height that qualifies a person to be termed a “giant.” The term has been typically applied to those whose height is not just in the upper 1% of the population but several standard deviations above mean for persons of the same sex, age, and ethnic ancestry. Typical adult heights of Americans of European descent to whom the term might be applied are 2.25 – 2.40 metres (7’6″ – 8 feet). The term is not applied to those whose heights appear to be the healthy result of normal genetics and nutrition.

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