Acromegaly and male sexual health.

ABSTRACT

Acromegaly is a rare pathology characterized by chronic hypersecretion of Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) that causes somatic, metabolic, and systemic changes. The somatotropic axis acts physiologically favoring gonadal function, but when GH is produced in excess it has deleterious effects on many aspects of male sexuality. It is widely demonstrated, in fact, that acromegaly induces hypogonadism through different mechanisms, both through direct mass effect on gonadotropic cells and through increased plasma levels of prolactin. Moreover, hypogonadism is also one of the factors linking acromegaly to erectile dysfunction (ED), but also metabolic complications of acromegaly and, probably, GH itself contribute to the genesis of this disorder. There are few data in the literature on the impact of the disease on fertility and testicular volume. Finally, knowledge of the role of GH hypersecretion on the occurrence of prostatic diseases such as benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostatic cancer appears to be of fundamental clinical importance in the long-term management of these patients.