title: Cephalometric assessment of cranial abnormalities in patients with acromegaly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with acromegaly (12 women, 26 men) and a control group (36 women, 50 men) were chosen for cephalometry to assess the size, shape and positional characteristics of the craniofacial bones and the upper airways.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When compared with the controls, patients of both sexes with acromegaly were found to have significant anomalies in the orofacial skeleton: increased facial height, elongated ascending ramus mandibulae and greater basion-supramentale distance, a negative difference between maxillary and mandibular protrusions, enlarged lower part of the gonion angle and of the angle of inclination of the maxilla, as well as alterations in the neurocranium: enlargement of sella turcica and of sinus frontalis and protrusion of the supraorbital ridges. As for the soft tissues, patients with acromegaly exhibited an elongated soft palate and a diminished angle between the uvular axis and the palatal plane. A comparison between the cephalometric parameters of patients with active acromegaly and those without active disease revealed no significant differences in either sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with acromegaly exhibited an enlargement of all parts of the neurocranium and orofacial bones except the maxilla. The greatest anomaly was seen in the mandible, with greater enlargement of the ascending ramus than of the body of the mandible. The shape of this bone was also altered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dostálová
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sonka
authors.forename: Zbynek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Smahel
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marek
mesh_terms: D000172:Acromegaly / Q000473:pathology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002508:Cephalometry; D005145:Face / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005260:Female; D005626:Frontal Sinus / Q000002:abnormalities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000002:abnormalities; D008437:Maxilla / Q000002:abnormalities; D008875:Middle Aged; D009915:Orbit / Q000002:abnormalities; D021362:Palate, Hard / Q000002:abnormalities; D010160:Palate, Soft / Q000002:abnormalities; D011378:Prognathism / Q000473:pathology; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000002:abnormalities; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014609:Uvula / Q000002:abnormalities; D014716:Vertical Dimension