Determinants of Quality of Life Improvement after Pituitary Surgery in Patients with Acromegaly

Background: Acromegaly is a rare and slowly progressive growth disorder caused by the excessive secretion of Growth Hormone (GH). The vast majority of patients with acromegaly have a slow-growing pituitary tumor which may ultimately cause neurological deficits. However, the pleiotropic effects of GH on many organs causes a myriad of clinical comorbidities, disfigurement and pre-mature mortality. Tumor resection remains the primary treatment modality and good biochemical control is generally reported. However, it is not clear which factors have the greatest impact on quality of life (QoL) after surgery.

Hypothesis: Improvement in QoL is reported rapidly after surgery. This improvement is not driven by biochemical cure of acromegaly.

Methods: A series of 55 patients with acromegaly treated by a single surgeon at a single institution between 2002–2015 were asked to complete a previously validated quality of life questionnaire, the SF-36. The scores were averaged and compared pre-operatively and at two time-points post-operatively. The impact of various variables on quality of life will be assessed

Results: Initial analysis of the data reveals significant improvement in patients’ perceived general health post-operatively. The same trend is observed across various measures of quality of life. Most of the improvement occurs in the early post-operative period. Further analysis will determine the most important factors affecting post-operative quality of life.