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The association of the syndrome of sleep apnoea and acromegaly was described in the literature. However, so far no satisfactory explanation was given of the more frequent concomitant incidence of these diseases. The authors describe the disappearance of the sleep apnoea syndrome in a female patient after removal of an intrasellar microadenoma of the pituitary with overproduction of growth hormone.

The authors examined 19 nonselected patients with acromegaly (8 women and 11 men), incl. 16 where the disease was hormonally active, 3 had normal growth hormone values, 11 patients had a surgical operation of the pituitary. The examination was made by the MESAM 4 method (all-night recording of the heart rate, respiratory sounds, body position and arterial oxygen blood saturation). The sleep apnoea syndrome was diagnosed in 10 patients (52.6%). In patients where the sleep apnoea syndrome was not confirmed by MESAM 4, so-called intermittent snoring was found, an indirect sign of impaired ventilation during sleep.