Case Report
Beate Karges Roland Pfäffle Bernhard O. Boehm Wolfram Karges
Hormone Research in Paediatrics 61(4):p 165-169, March 2004. | DOI: 10.1159/000076007
Abstract
Recombinant human growth hormone (GH) has been shown to be efficacious and safe in the treatment of various growth disorders and GH deficiency. We here report a 61-year-old man with idiopathic hypopituitarism in whom clinically active acromegaly developed. Complete GH deficiency had been diagnosed earlier by arginine stimulation testing, and therapy with recombinant human GH (maintenance dose 2 IU/day) was implemented at the age of 54 years. At presentation, the patient's insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1; 439 ng/ml) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (4.3 mg/l) levels were highly elevated. Endogenous GH production and pituitary adenoma were excluded. Retrospectively, IGF-1 levels up to 621 ng/ml had been documented (but not appreciated) in the preceding 7 years. Upon GH dose reduction, the IGF-1 serum levels returned to normal, and the patient's clinical status stabilized. No GH receptor polymorphisms were identified in the patient's genomic DNA. This observation demonstrates that the indiscriminate use of recombinant GH bears the risk of active acromegaly, emphasizing the need for long-term patient monitoring programs as integral part of GH therapy.
Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel