User:Mr. Ibrahem/Acromegaly
| Acromegaly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Facial features of a person with acromegaly. The cheekbones are pronounced, the forehead bulges, the jaw is enlarged, and facial lines are prominent. | |
| Pronunciation | |
| Specialty | Endocrinology |
| Symptoms | Enlargement of the hands, feet, forehead, jaw, and nose, thicker skin, deepening of the voice[3] |
| Complications | Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure[3] |
| Usual onset | Middle age[3] |
| Causes | Too much growth hormone[3] |
| Diagnostic method | Blood tests, medical imaging[3] |
| Differential diagnosis | Pachydermoperiostosis[4] |
| Treatment | Surgery, medications, radiation therapy[3] |
| Medication | Somatostatin analogue, GH receptor antagonist[3] |
| Prognosis | Usually normal (with treatment), 10 year shorter life expectancy (no treatment)[5] |
| Frequency | 6 per 100,000 people[3] |
Acromegaly is a disorder that results from excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed.[3] The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet.[3] There may also be enlargement of the forehead, jaw, and nose.[3] Other symptoms may include joint pain, thicker skin, deepening of the voice, headaches, and problems with vision.[3] Complications of the disease may include type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure.[3]
Acromegaly is usually caused by the pituitary gland producing excess growth hormone.[3] In more than 95% of cases the excess production is due to a benign tumor, known as a pituitary adenoma.[3] The condition is not inherited from a person's parents.[3] Rarely acromegaly is due to a tumor in another part of the body.[3] Diagnosis is by measuring growth hormone after a person has drunk a glucose solution, or by measuring insulin-like growth factor I in the blood.[3] After diagnosis, medical imaging of the pituitary is carried out to determine if an adenoma is present.[3] If excess growth hormone is produced during childhood, the result is the condition gigantism rather than acromegaly.[3]
Treatment options include surgery to remove the tumor, medications, and radiation therapy.[3] Surgery is usually the preferred treatment; the smaller the tumor, the more likely surgery will be curative.[3] If surgery is contraindicated or not curative, somatostatin analogues or GH receptor antagonists may be used.[3] Radiation therapy may be used if neither surgery nor medications are completely effective.[3] Without treatment, life expectancy is reduced by 10 years; with treatment, life expectancy is not reduced.[5]
Acromegaly affects about 6 per 100,000 people.[3] It is most commonly diagnosed in middle age.[3] Males and females are affected with equal frequency.[6] It was first described in the medical literature by Nicolas Saucerotte in 1772.[7][8] The term is from Greek ἄκρον akron meaning "extremity" and μέγα mega meaning "large".[3]
References[edit]
- ^ "Acromegaly". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. n.d. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^ "Acromegaly". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Acromegaly". NIDDK. April 2012. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
- ^ Guglielmi, Giuseppe; Van Kuijk, Cornelis (2001). Fundamentals of Hand and Wrist Imaging. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 205. ISBN 9783540678540. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08.
- ^ a b Ho, Ken (2011). Growth Hormone Related Diseases and Therapy: A Molecular and Physiological Perspective for the Clinician. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 400. ISBN 9781607613176. Archived from the original on 2016-08-25.
- ^ Pack, Allan I. (2016). Sleep Apnea: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment (2 ed.). CRC Press. p. 291. ISBN 9781420020885. Archived from the original on 2016-08-25.
- ^ Pearce, John M. S. (2003). Fragments of Neurological History. World Scientific. p. 501. ISBN 9781783261109. Archived from the original on 2016-08-25.
- ^ Pearce JM (September 2006). "Nicolas Saucerotte: Acromegaly before Pierre Marie". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. 15 (3): 269–75. doi:10.1080/09647040500471764. PMID 16887764.