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The pathogenesis of acromegaly

1985; American Association of Neurological Surgeons; Volume: 63; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3171/jns.1985.63.1.0035

1933-0693

Edward R. Laws, Bernd W. Scheithauer, Sandra Carpenter, Raymond V. Randall, Charles F. Abboud,

Adrenal and Paraganglionic Tumors

A series of 75 patients with acromegaly and immunocytochemically characterized pituitary adenomas has been analyzed. Tumors secreting growth hormone (GH) only were found in 21% of cases. The remainder had tumors immunoreactive for more than one pituitary hormone: GH and prolactin in 31%; GH, prolactin, and glycoprotein in 40%; and GH and glycoprotein in 8%. Microadenomas were surgically treated in 17 patients with a success rate of 82%. Overall, normalization of basal GH secretion (to less than or equal to 5 ng/ml) was achieved in 54% of cases. The implications of these findings for the pathogenesis and neurosurgical management of acromegaly are discussed.