[Acromegaly and sleep apnea syndrome (author's transl)]

Acromegaly associated with a Sleep Apnea Syndrome has but exceptionally been reported. Polygraphic recordings of sleep have been carried out in parallel with the determination of pituitary hormonal secretions, during the nycthemeral period before and after surgical treatment of the adenoma. There appears a Sleep Apnea Syndrome of the predominant obstructive type; the Apnea index is: 57 (N less than or equal to 4); the hypnogram is considerably jagged, with more than a thousand wakings and changes in the sleep stages, due to a great number of apneas. The deep slow sleep never occurs: no stages 3 and 4. The physiological peak of G.H. secreted in the beginning of the deep slow sleep thus does not appear in the Sleep Apnea Syndrome. The existence of a "false negative" criteria of a cured Acromegaly must be taken into consideration. The Sleep Apnea Syndrome must be differentiated from Narcolepsy and the usual Pickwickian syndrome. The Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Acromegaly seem to be two separate diseases, each one evolving independently. The cure of Acromegaly has not led to the cure of the Sleep Apnea Syndrome and the latter has not prevented the clinical and biological cure of Acromegaly. This may be an argument in favor of the independence of Acromegaly towards some hypothalamic structures.