[Drug therapy for acromegaly]

Acromegaly is a severe disease caused by excessive secretion of growth hormone (GH), usually a pituitary tumor (98%), which in turn leads to a significant increase in the production of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) by the liver, which mainly determines the tissue effect of GH.The larger the size of the tumor, the more it produces GH and the less likely it is to achieve adequate control of hormonal secretion. Large tumors that extend beyond the sella turcica are found in 70-80% of patients with acromegaly and present the greatest difficulties for successful treatment.Increased secretion of GH and IGF-1 gives adverse systemic, metabolic and, possibly, neoplastic effects, which reduces the life expectancy of patients with acromegaly and increases the mortality rate by 2-3 times.