Objectives

We aimed to investigate the clinical, biochemical, histological and radiological characteristics as well as the response to somatostatin analogs (SSA) in a large cohort of acromegaly patients with a paradoxical GH response (PR) to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

Design

Retrospective study.

Methods

Of 110 patients with acromegaly included in our study, 30 (PR+; 27%) had a paradoxical GH increase of more than 25% relative to basal GH levels during OGTT.

Results

At diagnosis, PR+ patients were older than PR− patients (52 ± 16 years vs 44 ± 14 years, P < 0.05) and had smaller pituitary tumors (40% microadenomas vs 19%, P < 0.05), which were less often invasive (17% vs 35%, P < 0.05), overall more secreting (insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)/tumoral surface: 2.35 ULN/cm2 (0.28–9.06) vs 1.08 (0.17–7.87), P = 0.011), and more often hypointense on T2-weighted MRI (92% vs 48%, P = 0.001). While the rate of remission after surgery was similar in the two groups (69%), a better response to SSA treatment was observed in PR+ patients, either before (IGF-1 reduction of > 50% after 3–6 months in 77% vs 49%, P = 0.023) or after surgery (normalization of IGF-1 in 100% vs 44%, P = 0.011).

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates that in acromegaly, a paradoxical GH increase during OGTT is associated with particular features of somatotroph adenomas and with a better prognosis in terms of response to SSA.