Pathophysiology question about acromegaly

Question

Explain why longitudinal bone growth cannot occur in patients with acromegaly.

Is it because longitudinal growth occurs until puberty? And so acromegaly will often develop after puberty when the majority of longitudinal bone growth has stopped?

Answer 1

Longitudinal bone growth occurs at the epiphyseal plate (aka: growth plate), which fuses at around age 20 in males and age 18 in females. Growth hormone causes longitudinal bone growth in individuals with open growth plates. However after the growth plate closes, growth hormone can only cause thickening and widening of the bone. That is why aberrant growth hormone release in adult and elderly patients causes acromegaly, and not gigantism (excess growth hormone in teens).