The Effect of Radiation Therapy in Patients with Acromegaly

Purpose. To assess the effect of radiation therapy (RT) in patients with acromegaly, depending on the age of the patients and the activity of the pituitary adenomas.

Methods:

The object of the study was 50 patients (36 women and 14 men) with acromegaly who received gamma-therapy in a total dose of 45-60Gr.

The age of patients ranged from 29 to 77 years. By age, the patients were divided into 3 groups: 1st age group-29-44 years old-23 patients (46%), 2nd group-45-59 years old-16 patients (32%), 3rd group-60-79 years old-11 patients (22%).

All patients underwent hormonal (GH, IGF-I) studies in the dynamics of treatment.

Results:

The hormone levels of GH and IGF-1 remain high in group I in 22% of patients, and in group III in 9%. Remissions reached 64% in the III group.

The highest levels of GH were in the age range from 45 to 59years old and amounted to 77.5±9.68 mMe/l, and from 26 to 44years old was 68.1±6.84 mMe/l. After RT, this indicator in both age groups was almost equally depressed, but not to the norm. At the same time, in the I group, a decrease in the level of GH is observed in 10patients, and in the II age group in 9patients it was 9.99±6.2 mMe/l.

As the results of the study showed, the use of RT leads to a significant decrease in the level of GH and IGF-1 in all age periods and a particularly significant decrease was observed in age group III.

Discussion/Conclusion:

Thus, the analysis of the results of studying the relationship between the age of patients and the activity of the process at different periods of observation after RT showed that in all age periods, RT is a fairly effective method of treatment and gives positive results in most cases.