Acromegaly – under-diagnosed disease with serious complications
Authors:
J. Smaha; M. Kužma; J. Payer
Authors‘ workplace:
Prednosta: prof. MUDr. Juraj Payer, PhD. MPH, FRCP
; V. interná klinika Lekárskej fakulty Univerzity Komenského a Univerzitnej nemocnice Bratislava, Slovenská republika
Published in:
Prakt. Lék. 2021; 101(5): 282-288
Category:
Case Report
Overview
Despite typical clinical signs, acromegaly is often an under-recognized and under-diagnosed disease. As a result of untreated disease, patients have long-term health problems, often lasting for decades, which reduce their quality of life and increase their morbidity and mortality. Adequate treatment leads to reduction in mortality of patients with acromegaly almost to the level of the general population. Prerequisite for adequate treatment is an accurate and timely diagnostics, which can be complicated by the gradual onset of typical symptomatology. In the present set of case reports we document cases of two men in whom the correct diagnosis was made at random after many years of the disease duration shortly before elective surgery for another cause. Improving awareness of the clinical manifestations of acromegaly and its systemic complications among healthcare professionals could shorten the interval from the onset of symptoms to the final diagnosis.
Keywords:
Growth hormone – Pituitary adenoma – acromegaly – insulin-like growth hormone 1
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Labels
General practitioner for children and adolescents General practitioner for adultsArticle was published in
General Practitioner
2021 Issue 5
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