[Treatment of acromegaly: a critical analysis of the last ten years]

The ten previous years in terms of acromegaly treatment were essentially characterized by the experience accumulated with new formulations of somatostatin analogues or new drugs such GH-receptor antagonists recently available. Surgery remains the first-line treatment and its results did not change despite the generalization of endoscopy, which mainly seems to decrease local side-effects. The setting of radiotherapy was essentially modified by the increasing use of gamma-knife or stereotactic radiotherapy; however, their results are essentially the same as the classic fractionated, conventional radiotherapy and nobody knows if it will decrease the side-effects of this therapeutic modality. Nevertheless, thanks to a multistep therapeutic strategy, combining the different therapeutic modalities, it has become very rare for acromegaly not to be controlled in a patient.