The efficacy of octreotide LAR (long acting release) treatment in patients with somatotropinoma, and mixed pituitary tumours.
OBJECTIVE
The efficacy of somatostatin analogues in the treatment of acromegaly is not always equal and therefore we wanted to evaluate the efficacy of therapy with octreotide long acting release (LAR) in patients with monohormonal tumours (somatotropinomas) in comparison to individuals with mixed pituitary tumours secreting alpha-subunit.


METHODS
The 35 acromegalic patients (18 males and 17 females), aged 41.8 +/- 8.8 years, were divided into 2 groups according to the secreted hormones: 1 with mixed pituitary tumours with elevated growth hormone and alpha-subunit concentrations, the other with isolated growth hormone hypersecretion and normal alpha-subunit levels. The groups included 19 patients (9 males and 10 females), aged 40.1 +/- 7.1 years (mean +/- SD), and 16 patients (9 males and 7 females) aged 43.8 +/- 8.8 years (mean +/- SD), respectively.


RESULTS
The decrease of GH and IGF-I levels after octreotide LAR treatment were observed in both groups. However, the reduction of GH and IGF-I concentrations was not equal in both groups and the differences between both groups were statistically significant (P = 0.01 for GH levels, and P = 0.047 for IGF-I levels).


CONCLUSIONS
After octreotide LAR treatment, the decrease of GH level and of mean IGF-I values was greater in patients with mixed pituitary tumours and high alpha-subunit concentrations than in patients with isolated GH hypersecretion and normal alpha-subunit levels.
Waśko
Ryszard
R
Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Internal Medicine, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, ul. Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznań, Poland. rwasko@amp.edu.pl
Bolko
Paweł
P
Owecki
Maciej
M
Jaskuła
Magdalena
M
Sowiński
Jerzy
J
D000172:Acromegaly / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D000236:Adenoma / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000328:Adult; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015282:Octreotide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D015282:Octreotide