Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The approach to a patient with acromegaly and persistent disease after surgery requires a complex diagnostic assessment. Acromegaly is a chronic and insidious disease that is associated with multisystem comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, sleep apnea syndrome, colon polyposis, arthropathy, and metabolic complications including glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Patients also have a variety of signs and symptoms, including headache, arthralgias, carpal tunnel syndrome, sweating, fatigue, and psychological issues that impact significantly on quality of life. The recommended approach to the evaluation of the postoperative patient includes a biochemical assessment, with measurement of serum IGF-I along with a glucose-suppressed GH value, radiological assessment to determine location of residual tumor and presence of mass effects, a physical examination for evidence of skeletal and soft tissue overgrowth and related signs of acromegaly, and a thorough clinical assessment for the presence of comorbidities. Repeat surgery is indicated if there is residual tumor that is surgically accessible and there may be a chance for surgical cure, or if there are persistent mass effects upon the optic chiasm. Otherwise, medical therapy is indicated, utilizing somatostatin analogs, dopamine agonists, and pegvisomant, a GH receptor antagonist. Radiation therapy is usually relegated to situations where medical therapy is ineffective or poorly tolerated or where patients would prefer not to sustain the cost of long-term medical therapy. The choice of therapy requires close dialog among endocrinologists, neurosurgeons, radiation therapists, and neuroophthalmologists for optimal care of patients.
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PMID:Approach to the patient with persistent acromegaly after pituitary surgery. 2082 64

Acromegaly is a chronic systemic disorder caused by a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma. Active acromegaly results in a poor quality of life due to symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, depression, sexual dysfunction and hyperhidrosis; an increased prevalence of co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension as well as cancer risk and a reduced life expectancy. Appropriate, modern, multimodal treatment of acromegaly has led to a significant improvement in quality of life, an adequate control of co-morbidities and a drastic reduction in the mortality rates that used to prevail in the past. This multimodal strategy includes an adequate selection of patients who are likely to benefit from surgical treatment (which has to be performed by a skilled pituitary neurosurgeon), the use of pharmacological interventions such as somatostatin analogs and dopamine agonists, which target the pituitary adenoma; and pegvisomant, a GH mutant acting as a competitive antagonist of the GH receptor. Radiation therapy is an important tool, particularly in parts of the World where resources are limited. The ultimate outcome of the individual patient depends on the judicious use of all these treatment options, which are critically analyzed in this mini-review.
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PMID:The multimodal treatment of acromegaly: current status and future perspectives. 2491 54

Current guidelines recommend the use of long-acting somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs) first when surgery fails to correct GH/IGF-I hypersecretion in patients with acromegaly. In this issue of the journal, a pro- and contra debate will outline which arguments are in favour and which are against positioning pegvisomant (PEGV), a GH receptor antagonist, as the first-line treatment modality of acromegaly. The task of the pros was to promote a paradigm shift towards repositioning PEGV as first-line treatment as PEGV is safe and more effective than the first- and second-generation of SRLs. SRLs, when prescribed together with PEGV can still reduce tumour size when necessary, while they decrease the necessary dose of PEGV by around 50% in the average patient. They conclude that PEGV must move up towards the first-line treatment. For the cons, SRLs remain the first-line medical treatment. Indeed, even if, in recent studies, the remission rate is lower than initially claimed, SRLs are still effective not only for normalizing GH/IGF-I levels in half of the patients but also for inducing tumour shrinkage, improving comorbidities and headaches and reversing excess mortality. They are more convenient for use with their monthly administration and have a remarkable safety profile as demonstrated by the very prolonged experience acquired by more than 30 years of use. Finally, the cost-effectiveness of first-generation SRLs is better than that of PEGV. For all these reasons, cons consider that SRLs remain the best first medical treatment in patients requiring medical therapy.
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PMID:Pegvisomant and not somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs) is first-line medical therapy for acromegaly. 3223 75