Acromegaly: ‘You must know it to think of it’

Abstract

Acromegaly is a debilitating and disfiguring chronic disease, which occurs in both sexes at any age, associated with multiple comorbidities and increased mortality. It is typically caused by a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma that promotes exposure of body tissues to increased concentrations of GH and IGF-I. The diagnosis of acromegaly is still made very late in a substantial number of patients when the disease is already in advanced stages. An epidemiological study from Sweden has elegantly demonstrated that the longer the diagnostic delay in acromegaly, the higher the number of comorbidities. Moreover, about 25% of the Swedish patients had 10 years or more of diagnostic delay and in this group mortality rate was significantly increased. These results reinforce the importance of shortening the latency period between disease onset, diagnosis and treatment to improve patient outcomes. This commentary article discusses strategies to be embraced by the endocrine community to allow early identification of acromegaly among public and health professionals, as internists, primary care clinicians, different specialists and dentists are the first point of contact for most of the patients. We emphasize that acromegaly should be presented as a sporadic, rather than rare, insidious disease, meaning that there is a considerable chance for health professionals to see a patient with acromegaly throughout their careers. The motto ‘you must know it to think of it’ is advocated in awareness efforts to reduce time to diagnosis, which results in lower rates of morbidity and mortality and might positively impact healthcare costs.