Removing the tumour should instantly lower your levels of growth hormone and relieve pressure on the surrounding tissue. Facial features often start to return to normal and swelling improves within a few days. Medicine may be prescribed if your growth hormone levels are still higher than normal after surgery, or if surgery was not possible. Each of these medicines has different advantages and disadvantages.
Speak to your doctor about the options available to you, and the benefits and risks of each. If surgery is not possible, or not all of the tumour could be removed, or if medicine has not worked, you may be offered radiotherapy. This can eventually reduce your growth hormone levels, but it may not have a noticeable effect for several years and you may need to take medicine in the meantime.
Stereotactic radiotherapy is more commonly used to treat adenomas because it minimises the risk of damage to nearby healthy tissue. Radiotherapy can have a number of side effects. It will often cause a gradual drop in the levels of other hormones produced by your pituitary gland, so you'll usually need hormone replacement therapy for the rest of your life.
It may also have an effect on your fertility. Treatment is often effective at stopping the excessive production of growth hormone and improving the symptoms of acromegaly.
After treatment, you'll need regular follow-up appointments with your specialist for the rest of your life. These will be used to monitor how well your pituitary gland is working, check you're on the correct hormone replacement treatment and make sure the condition does not return. Because the symptoms of acromegaly often develop gradually over several years, you may not get a diagnosis straight away.
Your doctor may ask you to bring in photographs of yourself that span the past few years to look for the tell-tale gradual changes. If your doctor suspects you have acromegaly, you'll need to have a blood test to measure your growth hormone levels. To make sure the blood test gives an accurate result, you may be asked to drink a sugary solution before having a series of blood samples taken. For people without acromegaly, drinking the solution should stop growth hormone being released.
In people with acromegaly, the level of growth hormone in the blood will remain high. This is called a glucose tolerance test. Your doctor will also measure the level of another hormone, called insulin-like growth factor 1 IGF About 19 year-old, female, presented with sweating in both arms for many years. The sweating has progressively got worse over the last several years.
Occasionally, her feet and lower back can also be affected. They do not tend to occur particularly at night and have no association with alcohol, meals or fasting. Her periods are regular.
She does not have any associated symptoms such as headache and visual disturbance. She has no significant family history. She is a student, who is a non-smoker and consumes alcohol at weekends. On examination, her hands and feet were sweaty. No prognathism and no other features to suggest acromegaly. The pituitary gland is a small gland at the base of your brain, behind the bridge of your nose. It produces GH and a number of other hormones. GH plays an important role in managing your physical growth.
When the pituitary gland releases GH into your bloodstream, it triggers your liver to produce a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1 IGF-1 — sometimes also called insulin-like growth factor-I, or IGF-I. IGF-1 is what causes your bones and other tissues to grow. In adults, a tumor is the most common cause of too much GH production:. Early treatment of acromegaly can prevent these complications from developing or becoming worse.
Untreated, acromegaly and its complications can lead to premature death. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version.
This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Illustration showing person with acromegaly Open pop-up dialog box Close. Illustration showing person with acromegaly Symptoms of acromegaly include an enlarged face and hands. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Pituitary gland and hypothalamus Open pop-up dialog box Close. Pituitary gland and hypothalamus The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus are located within the brain and control hormone production.
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