Can acromegaly be cured? A twenty year review

A retrospective review was performed on 41 patients under going transphenoidal surgery for treatment of acromegaly between 1977 and 1997. The mean age was 16.9 years (range 8-67). There were 28 (68.3 percent) male subjects. The mean follow-up was 4.4 years (range 0-17 years). 14 (34.1 percent) patients underwent postoperative adjuvant treatment with radiotherapy, bromocriptine or both. Three (7.3 percent) patients required a second transphenoidal procedure for persistent disease. Postoperatively 27 (65.9 percent) patients (3 had unknown postoperative growth hormone levels) had normalisation of growth hormone (GH) levels (