Which children with early puberty are most likely to have a brain finding on an MRI
Original title: Prevalence and effects on outcomes of intracranial tumors and structural alterations in children with central precocious puberty and early and fast puberty.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This was a look back at records of children who were already scanned and treated, so it is about care choices, not a new treatment.
The short version
In this study, brain scans found a growth or other change most often in the youngest children who started puberty early.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at the records of 1,087 children who started puberty early and had a brain MRI between 2011 and 2023. They sorted the scans into three groups: no finding, a harmless finding, and a growth that can cause early puberty. They also looked at how the children responded to puberty blocking medicine.
What they found. A brain finding showed up in 14.5% of girls and 19.6% of boys. Age mattered a lot. Girls under 6 had findings far more often than older girls, 33.7% versus 12.1%, and boys under 7 had them more often than older boys, 53.8% versus 16.9%. In 26 children the finding was a growth that can cause early puberty, either a hypothalamic hamartoma or a glioma: A tumor that starts in the glial cells, the support cells of the brain and spinal cord. Gliomas are graded 1 to 4 by how fast they tend to grow. See the glossary. Among 312 girls who were treated, those with one of these growths needed a higher dose of the medicine at 6 months and grew faster at first.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: If a child starts puberty very young, a brain MRI may be worth doing. In older children, and in children with early and fast puberty, these growths were rare, so a scan may not be needed for everyone. Harmless findings, like a small cyst spotted by chance, did not change how the children did or how they responded to treatment. A child with one of these growths may need a higher dose of the puberty blocking medicine.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean every child with early puberty has a brain tumor. It also does not mean a scan will find something. This was a look back at records from one group of patients. It was not a test of a new treatment, and it is not a cure or a promise of one. It does not tell us whether scanning more or less often leads to better health over time. Talk with your child's doctor about what is right for your family.
Source: PubMed, July 24, 2026 · Read the original
This plain-language summary was written by AI and published automatically after passing our automatic safety checks. How we write.