Acromegaly: A Consideration of Its Course and Treatment Report of Four Cases with Autopsies

Abstract

In the final analysis it is long personal familiarity with, and a critical discriminating attitude toward, a wealth of clinical material that add a modicum of authoritative information to the sum of our knowledge of a given disease. Lack of opportunity to fulfill these requirements probably accounts for the fact that very little has been added to our knowledge of acromegaly since the comprehensive work of Cushing and Davidoff (1–5) was published nearly 15 years ago. Although many of their conclusions were hypothetical at the time, they have since been substantiated in the light of newer knowledge concerning the pituitary gland. Their analysis included 100 verified cases, a truly sizeable series considering the rarity of the disease. Up to 1938, Atkinson (6, 7, 8), after diligent search of the literature and with the aid of the British Consular Service all over the world, had been able to uncover only 1606 cases of acromegaly which he tabulated in a unique monograph.