Acromegaly radiation therapy

Discuss the role of surgery and radiation therapy for patients with acromegaly. 

A dopamine agonist alone or in combination with pituitary surgery, radiation therapy, or octreotide administration can be used to treat acromegaly. The doses required are higher than those used to treat hyperprolactinemia. For example, patients with acromegaly require 20-30 mg/d of bromocriptine and seldom respond adequately to bromocriptine alone unless the pituitary tumor secretes prolactin as well as GH. 

Because neither radiation therapy nor surgery will cure all patients with acromegaly, adjuvant drug therapy is often needed to control symptoms. ... 

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