A Case of Pituitary Gigantism and Acromegaly in Anatolia (Tasmasor, Erzurum, Turkey)

Abstract

In 2003, a tall skeleton belonging to a young adult individual was recovered from a post-medieval cemetery situated north-east of the modern city of Erzurum, Turkey. The sex of the individual was not possible to determine. The predicted stature values range from 182 to 200 cm with the average 188.94 cm. The growth was proportional on almost all bones, except for the cranial and facial bones. The selected metric data were compared with the mean values of the male individuals from the same cemetery for differential diagnosis. The individual exhibits characteristics of both pituitary gigantism and acromegaly due to the tumour formation developed in the intrasellar area. Pathological features such as severe osteoarthritis, enthesis and new bone formation around and on the joint surface of the post-cranial bones, kyphoscoliosis and ankylosis are in agreement with these diagnoses as well.

The Internal Cranial Anatomy of a Female With Endocrine Disorders From a Mediaeval Population

“…The morphological data of an adult individual with endocrine disorders (OL-23/77) were analysed in relation to non-pathological individuals from the same mediaeval group in Poland. The cranial length of OL-23/77 is similar to skull measurements reported in earlier archaeological studies and current patients with acromegaly ( 7 – 9 , 11 , 26 ). We were unable to analyse the cortical thickness of the cortex or variation in grey matter volume that is relevant for the cognitive abilities ( 54 ) as we investigated bone remains.…”

“…OL-23/77) may result from the pressure erosion of an intrasellar tumour ( 49 , 56 ). The calculated sella turcica volume of OL-23/77 falls within the range of other cases of gigantism and acromegaly ( 11 , 49 ). The anatomical features of the skeleton and the large volume of the sella turcica confirm the earlier anthropological assessment, the presence of endocrine disorder in OL-23/77.…”

“…Several cases of gigantism and acromegaly have been reported in past human populations from the Third (2700 BC) ( 7 ), and Fifth Dynasties in Egypt (2494-2345 BC) ( 8 ), the Windmiller culture in California (2500-850 BC) ( 9 ), Mediaeval Greece (7 th century) ( 10 ), a post-Mediaeval cemetery in Turkey ( 11 ) a Jewish necropolis in Spain (7 th -12 th centuries) ( 12 ), a late prehistoric village in Pottery Mound (14 th -16 th centuries) ( 13 ), and ruins in New Mexico (14 th -17 th centuries) ( 14 ). These studies on osteological material focus mostly on skeletal morphology, body height and coexisting pathological conditions such as joint diseases, ossification or periostitis ( 7 – 9 , 15 ).…”

A possible case of Gigantism and/or Acromegaly in a 15th-17th century woman from Đurine Ćelije, Serbia

“…Pathologies observed in No. 7a belong to the group of pathologies that are standardly associated with constant excessive growth disorder (Aufderheide and Rodriguez-Martin, 1998;Hošovski, 1991;Mulhern, 2005;Ozdemir et al, 2017). Patients with gigantism rarely or never live longer than 30 years, because of the progression of other diseases (Minozzi et al, 2012), while in patients diagnosed with acromegaly life expectancy exceeds 50 years of age (de Herder, 2008;de Herder, 2014).…”