“Most people with Alzheimer’s have the late-onset form of the disease, in which symptoms become apparent in their mid-60s. Researchers have not found a specific gene that directly causes late-onset Alzheimer’s. However, having one form of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene does increase a person’s risk”
National Institute on Aging
“As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, people experience greater memory loss and other cognitive difficulties. Problems can include wandering and getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, and personality and behavior changes. People are often diagnosed in the mid-alzheimer’s stage. ”
National Institute on Aging
“More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and its the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. 1 in 3 of seniors die with alzheimer’s disease or another dementia.”
alzheimer’s association
“Worldwide, 50 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a group of symptoms. ”
Alzheimer’s Association
“Gigantism is a serious condition that is nearly always caused by an adenoma, a tumor of the pituitary gland. Gigantism occurs in patients who had excessive growth hormone in childhood. The pituitary tumor cells secrete too much growth hormone (GH), leading to many changes in the body. Gigantism usually presents in childhood or young adulthood. If a pituitary tumor that secretes growth hormone develops after the bone growth plates fuse, the result is acromegaly.”
UCLA Health Ed.
Gigantism is described as accelerated growth during childhood from the production of excess growth hormone. By definition, gigantism must occur during childhood before the growth plates in the long bones of the body (for example, the femur or humerus) have closed. In adults, the condition is called acromegaly.
Gigantism is most often caused by a benign tumor on the pituitary gland called a pituitary adenoma. However, it can also be caused by the following disorders:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to determine the size and location of your child’s tumor if it is suspected that the disease is caused by a pituitary adenoma.
Furthermore, several blood tests can provide a diagnosis. High levels of prolactin or increased amounts of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) can suggest acromegaly, as can high levels of growth hormone in the blood after oral administration of a large dose of glucose. Low levels of cortisol, thyroid hormone, testosterone (in boys), and estradiol (in girls) can also suggest involvement of the pituitary gland.
Surgery is the best form of treatment and cures 80 percent of the cases of gigantism. Your child’s surgeon will gain access to your child’s pituitary gland using the transsphenoidal approach—so named because the route crosses, or transects, the sphenoid bone. This bone is located behind your child’s nose, mostly within their skull.
Using precise surgical instruments, the surgeon will make an incision through your child’s nasal cavity to create an opening in the sphenoid bone. Once the surgeon gains access to your child’s sphenoid sinus (the air-filled area behind the sphenoid bone), further incisions will be made until a hole is created in the sella turcica—the bone that cradles and protects the pituitary gland.
After your child’s pituitary gland is in the operative field, removal of the tumor can proceed. Your child’s surgeon will use high magnification to readily distinguish normal pituitary tissue from the tumor.
Once the tumor has been removed, your child’s surgeon will clean the tumor cavity and seal it.
At Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, our surgeons specialize in two types of surgery for adenomas:
Most patients are able to return home the day after their surgery for removal of a pituitary adenoma, and nasal packing is seldom required.
Treatment with a prescription medication is possible if surgery does not cure your child’s gigantism or if surgery is not recommended. Medicines are also sometimes prescribed before surgery to improve the likelihood of a good outcome.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a highly advanced form of radiotherapy that is used to achieve similar results to the traditional surgical techniques described above. However, with Gamma Knife it can take several years for growth hormone and levels to return to normal, rather than days or weeks as with traditional surgery. It is typically a treatment of last resort in patients with gigantism.
The ‘knife’ in this surgery is actually made up of many small beams of radiation focused on a single point. Each individual beam too weak enough to damage healthy tissue, but at the point where the beams converge they deliver a dose of radiation that is lethal to the tumor.
Gamma Knife is an outpatient procedure, does not involve any incisions, and requires only brief sedation under general anesthetic.
However, there are additional considerations for pediatric Gamma Knife surgery. These are best discussed with your child’s neurosurgeon.
“34.2 million people, or 10.5% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. An estimated 26.8 million people – or 10.2% of the population – had diagnosed diabetes. Approximately 7.3 million people have diabetes but have not yet been diagnosed (2018).”
Diabetes Research Institute Foundation
“Gigantism is a serious condition that is nearly always caused by an adenoma, a tumor of the pituitary gland. Gigantism occurs in patients who had excessive growth hormone in childhood. The pituitary tumor cells secrete too much growth hormone (GH), leading to many changes in the body. Gigantism usually presents in childhood or young adulthood. If a pituitary tumor that secretes growth hormone develops after the bone growth plates fuse, the result is acromegaly.”
UCLA Health Ed.
“Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use. Insulin helps keeps your blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia).”
EndocrineWeb (endocrineweb.com)