Assessment of Influencing Factors on Outcome of Transsphenoidal Surgery in Acromegalic Patients

Background: transsphenoidal surgery (tss) is the most effective treatment for acromegalic patients, and two major factors that have been suggested as useful predictors in assessing this therapy’s success are: tumor size and preoperative basal growth hormone (gh) levels.objectives: the aim of this study was to illustrate the relationship between some predictor factors and transsphenoidal surgery (tss) outcomes and its remission rate.patients and methods: a total of 20 patients underwent tss by 4 neurosurgeons in 4 university hospitals in tehran and were followed up for 1 year. an oral glucose tolerance test was performed at 1 week after surgery and then 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. moreover, insulin growth factor- 1 (igf-1) was measured at 6 and 12 months after surgery.results: initial remission was observed in 7 (35%) patients with a recurrence rate of 10%. the nonresponse rate was 55%. the analysis showed a significant relationship between igf-1 and surgery outcome in the cured patients at 6 months after surgery (p = 0.005). no significant statistical relationship was found between tumor size and the tss outcome (p = 0.696).conclusions: given the high failure and recurrence rates following tss in iran, it seems important to pay more attention to diagnosing the disease earlier and improving surgical methods.