Objective and design: The aim of the study was the retrospective evaluation of pregnancy in acromegalic women attending our center.
Patients and methods: Six active acromegalic women (30-35-years old, disease duration 5-17 years) underwent seven pregnancies. Four patients had macroadenoma and two microadenoma; four had surgery; and two had been treated primarily with drugs. Before conception, GH and IGF-I were 5.4+/-0.8 and 430+/-58 microg/l respectively. GH (by an assay unable to distinguish pituitary hormone from placental variant), IGF-I, and prolactin (PRL) levels were assessed before conception, every 3 months, and after delivery; visual field and magnetic resonance imaging were performed before delivery in the only patient with macroadenoma not previously operated on and after delivery in all.
Results: All the women conceived normally, after discontinuation of medications in five cases and, while on treatment with depot somatostatin analogs in two (discontinued after confirmation of pregnancy). All patients remained off-treatment throughout pregnancy, had uneventful pregnancies, and term delivery. The babies were healthy and normal in length and weight. Breast-feeding was allowed in four cases. During pregnancy, GH levels showed variable changes; IGF-I, notwithstanding the withdrawal of any GH hypersecretion-suppressive treatment, remained close to normal limits in all subjects and returned to pathological levels after delivery; PRL increased physiologically, returning to baseline level after delivery. In one of the two patients primarily treated with drugs, GH levels increased and the tumor regrew throughout pregnancy, although without visual impairment.
Conclusions: Pregnancy in acromegalic women has a normal course leading to a normal delivery, and produces normal babies. GH levels show variable changes, but decrease in most patients. IGF-I levels remain normal without medical treatment.