[Growth pituitary adenomas: evaluation of 20 patients]

The growth hormone secreting pituitary adenomas can be mono, bi or pluri-hormonals. The most frequent association of GH is with the sub unit alpha or with the prolactin. This type of adenoma comes with the classic alterations of acromegaly, but when they produce more than one hormone, visual symptoms can be present. The adenoma producing just GH hormone is generally microadenoma and the other two groups tend to be macroadenoma. We analyze 20 cases of these adenomas and we have found quite satisfactory surgical result for the mono-hormonal type group. Radiotherapy should be considered in cases of partial resection.