Sir.—It was a pleasure to read the neuropathologic study of the hypothalamus and pituitary in cerebral gigantism by Whitaker and co-workers.1 In their discussion they stated that there is no known explanation for this condition. However, I was involved in a series of investigations with two children who had this affliction and was able to make a number of novel observations.2 Since this article appeared in a less well-read publication, I thought that it would be of benefit to summarize it and its results here.
In these two children, aged 10 and 19 months, who had characteristic features of cerebral gigantism, the levels of serum growth hormone, somatomedin C, nerve growth factor, and epidermal growth factor were unremarkable. Fibroblasts derived from a skin biopsy specimen from one child, when grown in confluent monolayer culture, demonstrated epidermal growth factor and somatomedin C receptor concentrations that did not differ