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Sequela of the Spontaneous Remission of Acromegaly

Ivan Login, MD; Richard J. Santen, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1975;135(11):1519-1521.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The usual course of untreated acromegaly is a gradual but progressive worsening of acral enlargement, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease that ultimately results in early death.¹ However, occasionally individuals with acromegaly will report the spontaneous remission of symptoms without therapy.^2,3 Prior to the development of specific and sensitive radioimmunoassays for growth hormone, this clinical syndrome of "burned out acromegaly" was thought to reflect the spontaneous cessation of growth hormone secretion by a previously functioning tumor. However, with the advent of suitable hormone assays, it became apparent that such patients frequently continued to secrete large amounts of growth hormone, even though the clinical signs and symptoms of acromegaly had apparently diminished. True spontaneous remission of the metabolic features of acromegaly, verified by appropriate measurements of growth hormone, has been reported in only six cases^3-8 and the mechanisms involved are incompletely understood. For these reasons, it appeared pertinent to describe . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pa.

Footnotes
Received for publication July 11, 1974; accepted April 5, 1975.

Reprint requests to Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033 (Dr. Santen).

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