Acromegaly Associated with Leukemia: A Case Report

Acromegaly is one of the most common clinical presentations of pituitary tu-mors. Some patients with this condi-tion may be affected by other benign or malignant neoplasms. There are a few reports of acromegaly in association with acute leukemias.
Case report: Reported here is a case of acromega-ly associated with Philadelphia positive acute lymphoblastic leukemial. The patient was a 61 year-old man, evaluated for complaints of bleed-ing from pilonidal cyst and weakness. He had typical acromegalic features. Laboratory tests showed he had pancytopernia and elevated IGF-1 levels. Imaging studies revealed he had a pitui-tary macroadenoma. The result of aspiration and biopsy of bone marrow and flowcytometric analysis confirmed the diagnosis of acute lym-phoblastic leukemia, Pre B cell type. Cytogenetic study of lymphoblasts revealed translocation of the 9 and 22 or Philadelphia chromosome.
Conclusion: It is suggested that the proliferative effect of growth hormone, as well as its anti-apoptotic activity related to IGF-1 may result in the increased incidence of neoplastic processes including acute leukemias in this group of pa-tients.