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A prospective, open-labelled, multicentre 6-month study was designed to assess three categories that have high impact on Health-Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL). These categories were: satisfaction, preference and drug tolerability in postmenopausal patients with osteoporosis in Croatia, at first treated with weekly oral bisphosphonates, followed by monthly oral ibandronate. Three hundred eighty-five postmenopausal women who were treated with one of the weekly bisphosphonates for at least 6 months were included into the study and after they had signed written informed consent, the therapy was changed to monthly ibandronate. Satisfaction with the treatment was assessed with the Osteoporosis Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (OPSAT-Q). Patients completed OPSAT-Q at the baseline visit before the change of therapy (visit 1) and 6 months after the change of therapy (visit 2). Following 6 months ibandronate therapy, the values in all four domains of the OPSAT-Q (convenience, confidence with daily activities, overall satisfaction, side effects) as well as in the Composite Satisfaction Score were higher in visit 2 ( p < 0.001). Values in subjects enrolled into the patient assistance programme did not differ significantly from the values in subjects that were not ( p = 0.399) except for the domain convenience ( p = 0.026). This study demonstrates significantly higher satisfaction in patients who switched from the weekly bisphosphonate therapy regimen to monthly ibandronate in all observed aspects of treatment. Patients expressed preference for monthly bisphosphonate (ibandronate) in comparison with weekly bisphosphonates and found it to be a more convenient method of treatment. At the time of study, however, it was not known that the anti-fracture effect of ibandronate was smaller for hip fractures than with other bisphosphonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Leksell gamma-knife radiosurgery in the treatment of residual growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas after the surgery., Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 23 acromegaly patients treated with gamma-knife radiosurgery between 1996 and 2019. The therapeutic success of radiosurgery was defined as IGF-1 normalization without suppressive medication (complete response) or as IGF-1 normalization with medication (partial response)., Results: The median follow-up was 57 (10-198) months. Complete response was achieved in 11 patients (47.8%) with actuarial remission rates of 17.4%, 26.1%, 39.1% and 47.8% at 1, 2, 4, and 7 years, respectively. The median time to complete the response was 21 (6-85) months. Partial response was achieved in another nine patients (39.1%) after a median time of 48 (6-144) months from radiosurgery. Patients who achieved complete remission had significantly lower IGF-1 levels before radiosurgery ( p  = 0.016) as well as smaller tumour volume ( p  = 0.016) and radiologically less invasive tumours ( p  = 0.022) in comparison to patients who did not achieve IGF-1 normalization. Tumour growth control after radiosurgery was established in all patients. During the follow-up, new hormone deficiencies were found in seven patients (30.4%) which corresponds to the incidence of one new case of hypopituitarism per 7.1 patient years., Conclusions: Gamma-knife radiosurgery offers endocrine remission and tumour growth control in a substantial proportion of patients with GH-secreting adenomas. Given the high cost of life-long medical treatment and a moderate risk of radiation-induced side effects, radiosurgery for growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas should be considered in all patients with residual tumours.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to review therapeutic outcomes of the medical treatment of patients with acromegaly based on real-world data from the Croatian Acromegaly Registry., Methods: In this retrospective study we investigated 163 patients (101 female, 62 male, age at diagnosis 47.2 ± 13.4 years) treated between 1990 and 2020, of which 53 were treated medically (32.5%). The duration of follow-up was 115.8 ± 304.4 months. The remission rate after the pituitary surgery was achieved in 66.5% (n = 105/158; 5 patients refused surgery). Patients who did not achieve disease remission or had a relapse during follow-up (n = 2), underwent reoperation (n = 18/60, 30%) and/or radiotherapy (n = 33/60, 55%) and/or medical treatment (n = 53/60, 88.3%). One patient refused further treatment after the failure of the first pituitary surgery., Results: Out of 53 patients treated with medical therapy, monotherapy was used in 34 (64.2%) and combination therapy in 19 (35.8%) patients. Remission (IGF-I < 1.2 upper limit of normal, ULN) was achieved in 51 patients (96.2%). Out of 53 patients, 21 (39.6%) were treated with first-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL-1) monotherapy, 10 (18.9%) with dopamine agonist (DA) monotherapy, one (1.9%) with pegvisomant monotherapy, 13 (24.4%) with a combination of SRL-1 and DA, three (5.7%) with a combination of SRL-1, DA and pegvisomant, two (3.8%) with a combination of second-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL-2), DA and pegvisomant and in one (1.9%) temozolomide was added on top of SRL-1 and DA. Two patients currently have active disease, both on SRL-1 monotherapy, of whom one is non-adherent to the treatment. Radiotherapy was applied to 27 (50.9%) patients on medical therapy., Conclusion: Our results indicate that almost all patients with active acromegaly after pituitary surgery can achieve biochemical control with medical treatment., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)