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Changes in serum human growth hormone (HGH), immunoreactive insulin, and blood sugar were measured during an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) in 31 normal subjects and 17 patients with acromegaly (all but 2 patients previously treated by X-ray). It was found: (1) During IVGTT, HGH levels in normal males were strikingly lower than in normal females, (2) Fasting HGH levels of normal and acromegalic females exhibited considerable overlap. However, 60 minutes following intravenous injection of glucose, the serum HGH decreased in normal females; whereas in patients with acromegaly it remained high, thus permitting differentiation between the 2 groups. (3) Fourteen out of 17 patients with acromegaly showed moderate to severe impairment of glucose utilization, and 3 were overt diabetics. (4) In 5 patients, HGH levels and carbohydrate tolerance were tested before and after X-ray treatment. Only in one of them was a distinct improvement observed, documented by decreased HGH level and increased K rate of glucose disappearance.
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1
From the Elliott P. Joslin Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, The Clinical Center of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and the Diabetes Foundation, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts.
2
Gunther Boden, M.D.: Research Fellow in Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass.
3
J. Stuart Soeldner, M.D.: Associated in Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; Research Associate, Elliott P. Joslin Research Laboratory, Boston, Mass.
4
Jurgen Steinke, M.D.: Clinical Associate in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Associate in Medicine, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; Research Associate, Elliott P. Joslin Research Laboratory, Boston, Mass.
5
George W. Thorn, M.D.: Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, Harvard Medical School; Physician-in-Chief; Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Supported by Grants AM-05077, AM-09748 and 1RO1-HDO2171-01 from the U. S. Public Health Service, Bethesda, Md., and the John A. Hartford Foundation, New York, N.Y.View full text
Copyright © 1968 Published by Elsevier Inc.