AlDallal Salma
Haematology & Blood Bank Department, Amiri Hospital, Kuwait Ministry of Health, Sharq, Kuwait,
Int J Gen Med. 2018 Aug 24;11:337-343. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S169611. eCollection 2018.
Acromegaly is an uncommon, chronic disease, characterized by hypersecretion of a pituitary growth hormone by somatotroph adenomas, along with increased levels of insulin-like growth factor-1. Although acromegaly presents a wide array of clinical manifestations, the salient symptoms include acral and soft tissue enlargement, joint pain, heart and respiratory failure, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Hence, early diagnosis of the disease is critical to enhance life expectancy and quality of life. New approaches are being developed for diagnosis and surveillance (both screening and follow-up), including sensitive biochemical assays and the use of MRI to visualize extremely small tumors, and are helpful in the early diagnosis of acromegaly, subsequent treatment, and disease control. This mini-review summarizes the most common and effective tools used in the diagnosis of acromegaly.
肢端肥大症是一种罕见的慢性疾病，其特征是生长激素细胞腺瘤导致垂体生长激素分泌过多，同时胰岛素样生长因子-1水平升高。尽管肢端肥大症有广泛的临床表现，但突出症状包括手足和软组织增大、关节疼痛、心脏和呼吸衰竭、糖尿病和高血压，导致发病率和死亡率增加。因此，该病的早期诊断对于提高预期寿命和生活质量至关重要。目前正在开发用于诊断和监测（筛查和随访）的新方法，包括敏感的生化检测和使用磁共振成像（MRI）来可视化极小的肿瘤，这些方法有助于肢端肥大症的早期诊断、后续治疗和疾病控制。本综述总结了肢端肥大症诊断中最常用且有效的工具。
