Pathology of growth hormone excess

This paper briefly reviews the pathology of growth hormone excess. Prolonged oversecretion of growth hormone is associated with elevated serum growth hormone as well as somatomedian C levels and the clinical signs and symptoms of acromegaly or gigantism. Morphologic studies, including immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy, revealed that several distinct morphologic lesions can be present in the pituitary gland of patients with acromegaly or gigantism. Although substantial progress has been achieved during the last two decades, more work is required to correlate the morphologic features of adenoma cells with their biologic behavior. We feel that the future can be viewed with optimism and further exciting results can be expected by the interaction of pathologists, clinical endocrinologists and basic scientists.