[Results of remote gamma-therapy in acromegaly patients]

A study was made of the condition of 44 acromegalic patients at various time after gamma-beam therapy. It has shown that therapeutic efficacy depends on initial sizes of adenomas and the level of growth hormone as well as on the time of observation. At late terms after therapy normalization of the level of growth hormone was observed in 41% of patients, clinical improvement in 44%, the absence of and effect in 15%. Radiation therapy resulted in a decrease in some hypophyseal functions in some of the patients and postradiation hyperprolactinemia in 56% of patients with the normal level of prolactin before therapy. The main shortcoming of radiation therapy was the length of time, necessary for achieving a therapeutic effect.