Case presentation of patient with Acromegaly

ML Cavan, M Armitage

Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, Bournemouth BH7 7DW, UK

Endocrine Nurses Training Course 10-12 September 2003
St Aidan's College, University of Durham, Windmill Hill, Durham DH1 3LJ

We present the case of a 47 year old lady who presented in 1997 with a history of enlarging hands, feet and tongue, memory loss and frontal headaches. An MRI scan confirmed the presence of a pituitary adenoma and an oral glucose tolerance test showed evidence of excess growth hormone secretion. The rest of her pituitary profile was normal. She underwent transsphenoidal hypophysectomy in 1997. As this did not lead to complete cure, she underwent stereotactic radiosurgery in 1998, followed by treatment with somatostatin analogues. She has remained under regular follow-up and in April 2002, treatment was withdrawn as her GH levels remained below 5 mU/l. GH levels have remained stable since then, indicative of successful treatment. In summary, this is a case where somatostatin analogues were used successfully to suppress GH secretion following surgery whilst radiotherapy took effect.

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