Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul-Aug;20(4):437-42.
doi: 10.4103/2230-8210.183455.

Prevalence of colonic polyp and its predictors in patients with acromegaly

Affiliations

Prevalence of colonic polyp and its predictors in patients with acromegaly

Purnima Agarwal et al. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2016 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background: There are conflicting data regarding the prevalence of colorectal polyp in patients with acromegaly.

Subjects and methods: Consecutive forty-seven acromegalic patients (21 men, 26 women), with a mean age of (40 ± 12 years) attending endocrinology outpatient department underwent full colonoscopy. All the patients underwent clinical and biochemical evaluation (glucose suppressed growth hormone (GH), Insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1], fasting insulin, and glucose). The control group (n = 120) for colonoscopy was adult subjects undergoing evaluation for symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Clinical and biochemical parameters in acromegalic patients with colonic polyp were compared to those without a polyp.

Results: Patients with acromegaly had significantly higher prevalence of colonic polyp as compared to control subjects (10.6% vs. 0.8%). None of the patients with polyp had skin tags. There was no significant difference between subjects with and without colonic polyp in duration of illness, basal, and glucose-suppressed GH and most recent IGF-1. Fasting blood sugar was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in adenoma group after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), and insulin levels. Patients in adenoma group showed a trend toward male gender and younger age as compared to those without adenoma.

Conclusions: Subjects with acromegaly as compared to control have a higher prevalence of colonic polyps. There was no association of polyps seen with age, BMI, skin tags, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index, duration of disease, and basal and glucose-suppressed GH and IGF-1 levels. There were no specific predictive factors detected. Screening full colonoscopy is recommended in all cases with acromegaly.

Keywords: Acromegaly; colon polyp; colonoscopy; homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Colonoscopy-pedunculated rectal polyp
Figure 2
Figure 2
Histopathology-adenomatous colonic polyp
Figure 3
Figure 3
Histopathology-hyperplastic colonic polyp

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Melmed S. Acromegaly. N Engl J Med. 1990;322:966–77. - PubMed
    1. Moon HD, Simpson ME, Li CH, Evans HM. Neoplasms in rats treated with pituitary growth hormone. III. Reproductive organs. Cancer Res. 1950;10:549–56. - PubMed
    1. Cats A, Dullaart RPF, Zwart N, de Vries EGE, Hardonk MJ, Kleibeuker JH. 1993 Increased epithelial cell proliferation in the colon in patients with acromegaly. Neth J Med. 42:A3. - PubMed
    1. Kurimoto M, Fukuda I, Hizuka N, Takano K. The prevalence of benign and malignant tumors in patients with acromegaly at a single institute. Endocr J. 2008;55:67–71. - PubMed
    1. Klein I, Parveen G, Gavaler JS, Vanthiel DH. Colonic polyps in patients with acromegaly. Ann Intern Med. 1982;97:27–30. - PubMed