title: Endoscopic transphenoidal surgery for acromegaly improves quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acromegaly has important effects on quality of life (QOL). This is the first study to measure QOL in acromegalic patients after endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery (ETSS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively collected the RAND-36, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D), and Pituitary QOL validated questionnaires and patients' demographics, clinical presentation, endocrine laboratory results, radiological studies, development of complications and remission rates from 20 consecutive acromegalic patients who had undergone endoscopic transphenoidal surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The eleven females and nine males had an average age of 42 years; 90 percent had macroadenomas and 70% had cavernous sinus invasion on their preoperative imaging. Ninety percent had improved symptoms post-operatively and 80% stated that treatment improved their QOL. Biochemically, 35% were cured, 35% had discordant results and 30% were not cured, while pan-hypopituitarism occurred in 4 patients. Physical health subscales and pituitary-related symptoms were similar to norms. "Social," "emotional health," and "energy levels" were significantly lower than norms. Seventy percent stated that their relationship with their physician "very much so" affected their quality of life. Pan hypopituitarism and adjuvant therapy were the most significant predictors of lower QOL subscale scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transsphenoidal surgery improves QOL in acromegaly. Attempts to achieve a cure, avoidance of surgically induced pan-hypotpituitarism and adjuvant therapy, will improve quality of life. Our study demonstrates the important role of the patient-physician relationship to QOL and the need to measure QOL in addition to the traditional measures of outcome.
authors.affiliation: 1Division of Neurosurgery,University of Toronto,Toronto,Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Hussein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fathalla
authors.affiliation: 1Division of Neurosurgery,University of Toronto,Toronto,Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cusimano
authors.affiliation: 1Division of Neurosurgery,University of Toronto,Toronto,Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Omar M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Alsharif
authors.forename: Rowan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jing
mesh_terms: D000172:Acromegaly / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013101:Sphenoid Sinus / Q000601:surgery*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult