Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: With the advancement of surgical techniques and equipments, many patients with acromegaly have achieved complete remission after surgery. Normalization of growth hormone (GH) brings about improvement of vital prognosis, but recovery from high GH hematologic disease induces various abnormalities. We focused on the body weight and body composition of the patients with acromegaly and examined the post-surgical changes.

Materials and Methods: 19 patients with new-onset acromegaly who had surgery at our facility and achieved post-surgical complete remission were enrolled (Male: 6, Female: 13, average age: 52.4, range: 29–74). Body weight and body composition as well as lipid metabolism and glucose tolerance were examined at pre/post-operation and 3 months after operation.

Results: Pre-surgical mean BMI was 25.2 but decreased to 23.4 one week after surgery, then increased to 25.1 three months after surgery. Pre-surgical body fat percentage was 23.9% and remained at 23.3% one week after surgery, then increased to 27.0% at 3 months after surgery. Body fat amount decreased from pre-surgical 14.9 kg to 14.0 kg one week after surgery but increased to 17.2 kg at 3 months after surgery. On the other hand, body water content decreased from pre-surgical 33.7 kg to 32.2 kg one week after surgery, and further decreased to 31.7 kg at 3 months after surgery. Neutral fat decreased from pre-surgical 108.1 mg/day to 84.7 mg/day one week after surgery, and further decreased to 73.6 mg/day at 3 months after surgery. Glucose tolerance also has improved in many cases.

Discussion: Patients with acromegaly are observed with post-surgical transient weight loss, which is considered due to body water loss. Body weight then begins to increase due to body fat accumulation. Lipid metabolism and glucose tolerance improve in a short term. Finally, the effect of obesity on mind and body also needs examination in a long process.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.