Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Acromegaly is a relatively uncommon disorder (40–68 cases per million population) caused by oversecretion of growth hormone by a tumor of the pituitary gland. Excessive growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) I concentrations cause gradual changes in facial and acral appearances as well as in many internal tissues.

Medhods: Medical records of patients with acromegaly seen between 2000 and 2008 at our hospital were reviewed and epidemiological data regarding the demographic characteristics has been analyzed.

Results: Information was available on 42 patients, of whom 23 (55%) were women and 19 (45%) were men. The mean age at diagnosis was 43±13 years. Body mass indexes were between 22.5 and 43 kg/m², mean 29.3±5.13 kg/m². GH levels were between 3 and 124 ng/ml, mean 32.6±28.3 ng/ml. IGF-I levels were between 310 and 2620 ng/ml, mean 927±616.14 ng/ml. In nine patients (21%) there were microadenomas while 33 patients (79%) had macroadenomas at the diagnosis. Diameters of adenomas were between 6 and 70 mm, mean value 22.6±13 mm. Most prominent symptoms were acral growth (83%), headache (26.2%) and visual defects (23.8%). Diabetes mellitus have found in 13 patients (31%) while two patients (5%) have had impaired glucose tolerance test. Patients who had neurosurgical procedures for adenomas were 82%. Postoperative hipopitiutarism have arised in 12% of patients.

Conclusion: Acromegaly is a rare disorder that progress slowly for years before become clinically apparent. Suspection from symptoms is important for diagnosis of acromegaly in early period.