Patient's question:
Today I saw a news report about a place where there is a person who is over 2 meters tall. He is the tallest person in the village. Everyone says he should have acromegaly. I saw that his legs are even taller than my whole body. I learned online that people with acromegaly cannot run, so I want to understand why people with acromegaly cannot run?Doctor's answer:
It can run, but it's still best not to engage in strenuous exercise. The cause of gigantism is usually due to a pituitary tumor (see pituitary adenoma), which leads to excessive secretion of growth hormone, causing excessive growth in various parts of the body. The main difference between gigantism and acromegaly lies in the fact that when acromegaly occurs, the patient's limb bones have stopped growing; whereas in gigantism, the patient's limb bones are still growing. Individuals with severe acromegaly may exhibit coarse facial features, headaches, fatigue, excessive sweating, lower back pain, enlarged hands and feet, an increase in ring and shoe sizes, and may also show symptoms of diabetes and hyperthyroidism.