Somatostatin analogs, cabergoline and pegvisomant: comparing the efficacy of medical treatment for acromegaly

Therapies for acromegaly aim at normalizing hormonal excess and controlling tumor growth . Therapeutic approaches are surgery, pharmacotherapy and radiotherapy. Area covered: This review focuses on the role of medical therapy of acromegaly, comparing the efficacy of somatostatin analogues (SSA), dopamine-agonists (DA) and pegvisomant (PEG), the three available drug classes for treating acromegaly. To clarify the difference in response rates reported in the literature for these therapies, we performed a search for original articles published in PubMed. SSA represent the first-line approach to medical treatment. This therapy is effective in controlling acromegaly in about 40% of patients, however there are great differences in the reported hormonal efficacy of SSA in the different series. In patients partially resistant to SSA, cabergoline can be added when hormonal levels are close to normalization, resulting effective in control IGF-I levels in 43% of patients. In patients with higher hormonal levels PEG is indicated, normalizing IGF-I levels in 79.8% and 80.6% of cases when used in monotherapy or in combination with SSA. Pasireotide, the newly developed SSA multi-ligand receptor, represents a new option in SSA resistant patients. Expert commentary: Medical therapy represents an important therapeutic option resulting safe and effective in controlling acromegaly in a high percentage of patients. The best treatment should be individually tailored for each patient, taking into account sex, age, comorbidities, tumor characteristics and hormonal levels.