Low Incidence of Adrenal Insufficiency after Transsphenoidal Surgery in Patients with Acromegaly: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Anne Marij G. Burgers*, Nieke E. Kokshoorn*, Alberto M. Pereira, Ferdinand Roelfsema, Johannes W. A. Smit, Nienke R. Biermasz and Johannes A. Romijn

Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: N. R. Biermasz, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases C4-R, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: nrbiermasz@lumc.nl.

Context: The long-term prevalence of adrenal insufficiency after transsphenoidal surgery for GH-secreting pituitary adenomas is unknown. However, recently a single study reported a high prevalence of adrenal insufficiency in acromegalic patients after surgical and/or medical treatment without postoperative radiotherapy.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence and incidence rates of adrenal insufficiency in consecutive patients during long-term follow-up after successful transsphenoidal surgery for acromegaly.

Design: In 91 consecutive patients in remission after transsphenoidal surgery only, we retrospectively reviewed insulin tolerance tests, CRH stimulation tests, metyrapone tests, and ACTH stimulation tests used to assess corticotrope function.

Results: Early postoperatively, insufficient adrenal function was observed in 16 patients (18%), which was transient in eight and irreversible in eight other patients in the first year of postoperative follow-up. Therefore, after the first year, the prevalence of adrenal insufficiency was 9%. Late, new-onset adrenal insufficiency developed in only three patients 13, 18, and 24 yr after surgery. The incidence rate of late adrenal insufficiency after successful surgery was 2/1000 person-years. After long-term follow-up, a median of 8.1 (1–31 yr), the prevalence of secondary adrenal insufficiency was 12% in patients in remission after surgery for acromegaly.

Conclusion: The prevalence of adrenal insufficiency 1 yr after surgery was 9%, whereas during prolonged follow-up, the incidence rate of adrenal insufficiency was only 2/1000 person-years in patients in remission after surgery. Therefore, development of late-onset adrenal insufficiency is a very infrequent complication in patients with acromegaly in remission after transsphenoidal surgery only.

From http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jc.2010-2673v1