What are the complications of growth hormone tumors?

Early growth hormone adenomas are only a few millimeters in size and manifest mainly as excessive secretion of growth hormone. In adolescent patients, excessive growth may occur and even develop into a giant. In adulthood, the tumor may show signs of acromegaly. For example, the face changes, the forehead becomes larger, the jaw protrudes, the nose is large and the lips are thick, the fingers become thicker, the shoes and hats feel tighter, the larger models are changed several times, or even have to be specially made, some patients also have an increase in the amount of food, rough hair and skin, pigmentation, numbness of the fingers, etc.. In severe cases, the patient may feel general weakness, headache and joint pain, reduced sexual function, amenorrhea and infertility, and even diabetes. Growth hormone (GH) adenoma is manifested as gigantism in children and acromegaly in adults. Blood tests are performed for GH (growth hormone) and IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which is more sensitive than GH. Increased GH in the body causes three pathological changes: cartilage growth, soft tissue growth, and visceral growth. The preferred treatment for growth hormone adenoma is surgery; there is no clear and effective drug therapy, and Gamma Knife is only used as a complementary treatment for postoperative residuals. The main goal of surgical treatment for growth hormone adenoma is to remove the tumor as completely as possible and to reduce GH values to normal. Clinical studies have confirmed that postoperative GH values are inversely proportional to the patient’s life expectancy, and that soft tissue swelling caused by GH can be relieved immediately after surgery. Indicators of cure: No residual tumor on MRI review and GH review in normal range. The clinical manifestation of GH adenoma is characterized by slow growth. The adenoma continues to secrete excessive GH, resulting in progressive growth of soft tissues, bones and internal organs throughout the body. If the disease occurs before puberty, the epiphysis is slow to heal, and the whole body is overgrown with gigantism. If the tumor develops in adulthood, the epiphysis has already healed, and the tumor shows acromegaly. In the early stage of the disease, the patient shows rapid increase in height and weight, increase in hair, muscle development, and hypersexuality, and the tumor continues to develop after the developmental period, then the patient will show gigantism and acromegaly. Acromegaly is characterized by hypertrophy of the hands and feet and stubby fingers and toes in the early stage, followed by a wide nose and thick lips, high zygomatic orbits, protruding jaws and severe headaches, and fatigue, low back pain, slow thinking, memory loss and loss of libido in the later stage. Metabolic disorders: GH excess can lead to insulin resistance, reduced glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus, and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus is 30.8% and 19.2% in GH adenoma patients respectively. The hypertrophic throat and tongue collapse during sleep can cause sleep apnea syndrome in GH adenoma patients; the hypertrophy of the airway wall and narrowing of the lumen can affect lung function; GH adenoma can cause left ventricular hypertrophy and heart enlargement; the standardized prevalence of hypertension and critical hypertension in all age groups of adenoma is 17.6% and 27.1%, respectively, which is much higher than the normal population.