The Moscow regional register of patients with acromegalia
The paper reports the results of the Мoscow regional register of patients with acromegaly over 2005-2007. The register covers 70 patients (14 males and 56 females) (mean age 53.1 = 13.08 years (range 23-77 years), including 57 (81.4%) patients with an active phase of acromegaly. The interval from the onset of the first signs of acromegaly to its diagnosis was 5.85±5.79 years. Multiple complications of acromegaly were observed. The fasting level of growth hormone (GH) was normal in more than a third of the patients while the normal level of insulin-like growth factor I (ILGF-1) was obsened only in 5 (8.19%) of the patients with acromegaly, which suggests that ILGF-1 is of greater diagnostic value than fasting Gil. CH suppression in an oral glucose tolerance test enables the activity of the disease to be verified in individuals with normal fasting GH and ILGF-I levels. When entered into the register, 12.2% of the patients with active acromegaly received the present-day therapy with somatostatin analogues; 85.9% are currently taking this therapy.