PubMed · 13052683
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H GEIST, R CRAWSHAW. Testing patterns in acromegaly.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13052683/
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Acromegaly Quality of Life Questionnaire (AcroQoL) is a new disease-generated quality of life (QOL) questionnaire comprising 22 questions covering physical and psychological aspects of acromegaly and subdivided into "appearance" and "personal relations" categories. We have performed a cross-sectional study of QOL in 80 patients [43 male (mean age, 54.2 yr; range, 20-84); median GH, 0.93ng/ml (range, <0.3 to 23.7); IGF-I, 333.1 ng/ml (range, 47.7-899)] with acromegaly. In addition to AcroQoL, patients completed three generic QOL questionnaires: Psychological General Well-Being Schedule (PGWBS), EuroQol, and a signs and symptoms score (SSS). All three generic questionnaires confirmed impairment in QOL [mean scores: PGWBS, 69.6; EuroQol, visual analog scale, 66.4 (range, 20-100) and utility index, 0.7 (range, -0.07 to 0.92); and SSS, 12 (range, 0-27)]. There was no correlation between biochemical control and any measure of QOL. AcroQoL (57.3%; range, 18.2-93.2) correlated with PGWBS (r = 0.73; P < 0.0001); and in patients with active disease, AcroQoL-physical dimension correlated with SSS (r = -0.67; P < 0.0003). In all questionnaires, prior radiotherapy was associated with impaired QOL. In conclusion, these data underline the marked impact that acromegaly has on patients' QOL and provide the first evidence validating AcroQoL against well-authenticated measures of QOL. This indicates the potential of AcroQoL as a patient-friendly measure of disease activity.
Cystic acoustic neuromas are less frequent than solid ones and present different clinical and radiological features. Cystic schwannomas are larger, show a shorter clinical history and a different risk of postoperative complications. This study was designed to compare surgical results and complications of solid and cystic vestibular schwannomas of matching size operated upon via either a retrosygmoid or a translabyrinthine approach. The study included 80 patients presenting with grade III and IV acoustic vestibular schwannomas referred to the Neurosurgical and ENT team in the Department of Neuroscience of Torino, Italy. Twenty-six were cystic and 54 were solid tumours. Clinical history, surgical results and complications were compared between the two groups. In cystic tumors, rapid clinical worsening is common, due to sudden expansion of cystic elements. Tighter adherences are found between cystic tumours and nervous elements (particularly brainstem and possibly facial nerve), once compared to solid ones. Operative morbidity appears to be higher in cystic tumours. A wait and see policy should not to be applied to patients with cystic tumours. Careful technique, possibly sharp dissection, to divide the tumour adherences from the nervous tissue must be employed, in order to avoid lesions on brainstem veins and traction on a thin facial nerve. Severe complications may be caused by the excessive efforts to dissect brainstem adherences.
Active acromegaly is associated with significant comorbidity and reduced quality of life. However, the prevalence of comorbidity after long-term remission is not established. Therefore, we assessed the presence of comorbidity in 118 patients in long-term remission after surgery, radiotherapy, and/or somatostatin analog treatment according to strict biochemical criteria of serum GH and IGF-I concentrations and evaluated the impact of comorbidity on quality of life. The mean duration of remission was 12.0 +/- 7.4 yr, and mean actual IGF-I sd scores were 0.6 +/- 1.7. Self-reported joint problems occurred in 77% of patients, hypertension in 37%, a history of myocardial infarction in 9%, and diabetes mellitus in 11%. The presence of joint problems was not related to GH and IGF-I levels, active disease duration, or age. Joint complaints had significant negative impact on quality of life. Patients with a history of myocardial infarction had reduced scores for general health, depression, and fatigue, and diabetes mellitus was associated with reduced scores for anxiety and sleep. In conclusion, acromegalic patients had a high prevalence of joint-related comorbidity and hypertension despite long-term control of GH excess. Especially, joint complaints contributed to a reduced perceived quality of life in these patients.