Androgenic Adrenal Hyperfunction in Acromegaly

Abstract

CLINICAL differentiation of active from inactive acromegaly is often difficult. At the present time a diagnosis of active disease is often based on the tenuous correlation of certain signs and symptoms and several inconsistent chemical indexes of growth-hormone excess. Of the latter, hyperphosphatemia is extremely variable, and often absent,¹ and plasma growth-hormone assays have not shown consistent elevations in active cases.² In a recent publication Hamwi et al.³ reported that adrenal function was normal in acromegaly. This conclusion was based on measurement of basal steroid excretion and the glucocorticoid response to ACTH. These workers, however, did not describe or comment . . .