Lanreotide as Primary Treatment for Acromegalic Patients With Pituitary Gland Macroadenoma
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2012-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Acromegaly is a chronic disease caused by excessive secretion of growth hormone (GH) and
mainly due to benign tumour localized in the pituitary gland.
The disease develops insidiously, causing a gradual progression of symptoms; consequently
most patients are diagnosed in their fourth decade of life.
Administration of somatostatin analogues such as lanreotide have been shown to result in
normalisation or the decrease of GH and insulin growth factor (IGF-1) levels and improvement
of clinical symptoms in acromegalic patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate
whether lanreotide is also effective on tumour volume reduction (tumour shrinkage) and the
benefits of this potential tumour shrinkage on disease symptoms and patient's quality of
life.