Endocrine Abstracts

Acromegaly is a rare disorder with a high morbidity and mortality rate. The diagnosis is typically prolonged over time due to a slow and hidden development of the disease. Current medical therapy for the treatment of acromegaly involves the administration of somatostatin analogues that effectively suppress excess hormone secretion. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of octreotide therapy in acromegalic. A total of 32 patients have been treated with Octreotide since May 2015 when the medicinal was included in the reimbursement scheme in Albania. All patients have been treated every 28 days with Octreotide LAR 30 mg/2 ml. The concentration of GH and IFG1 was measured at 0 months and every 6 months thereafter. Of the 32 patients 50% received the Octreotide treatment after both surgery and Radiosurgery, another 37.5% of the patients received Octreotide treatment After surgery alone, and the remaining 12.5% received an Octreotide-only treatment. The Octreotide treatment reduced the levels of GH by 60% (significance P = 0.0072) and IGF-1 by 12.5% (P = 0.08) compared to the same levels measured before the treatment. For 30% of the patients the treatment achieved to bring GH and IGF-1 within normal values, 58% of the patients showed significant improvement (GH and IGF-1 reduction of 20% or more) towards the normalization of the levels, and 12% of the patients resulted resistant to the treatment. In conclusion, from the 32 patient cases treated with Octreotide we report a relevant reduction of the values of GH and IGF-1. The reduction is observed by measuring and comparing these levels before and after the treatment with octreotide. The treatment with somatostatin analogues is still the chosen treatment for acromegalic patients.