? Cats being treated with insulin have higher IGF-1 concentrations.. am I reading this right?

Discussion in 'Acromegaly / IAA / Cushings Cats' started by Judy and Freckles, Feb 20, 2020.

  1. Judy and Freckles

    Judy and Freckles Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2019
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16474053

    If I'm reading the above abstract properly, untreated (no insulin) diabetic cats had lower IGF-1 levels than non-diabetic cats but when they were given insulin their IGF-1 levels rose? Same outcome with acro cats

    @Wendy&Neko am I reading this wrong?
     
  2. Wendy&Neko

    Wendy&Neko Senior Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2012
    A slightly different take in results given in this presentation by Dr. Vanessa Woolhead of the RVC. First of all, positive for acromegaly is greater than 1000 when measured in nmol/L, as done in England at RVC. She studied over 200 cats. 19% of the cats had IGF-1 over 1000 when tested early after starting insulin therapy. A further 9.1% changed from <1000 to >1000 after 73 days of insulin therapy. So approximately 1/3 of acrocats tested too early got false negative results. Something in starting insulin therapy temporarily lowers IGF-1 numbers. When I get a chance, I'd like to see if I can get my hands on this article:
    Woolhead V, Teo Hwee Wen L, Gostelow R, Scudder C, Harman G, Forcada Y, Church DB, Niessen SJM. Serial changes in insulin-like growth factor 1 and impact on hypersomatotropism-screening in feline diabetes mellitus. ECVIM 2017

    The IGF-1 number is not a perfect indicator, especially at the lower end. There are a number of other conditions that can impact the IGF-1 number. This paper has more details on that.
     
    Judy and Freckles likes this.
  3. Cleocatra

    Cleocatra Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2020
    Here's Cleo's dx:
    Wendy, are you sure you have the unit of measure correct? That paper says IGF‐1 concentrations (>1000 ng/mL) nanogram/milliliter
    Here is the converter for Insulin-like Growth Factor : http://unitslab.com/node/230


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