The nature of cardiac hypertrophy in acromegaly: an echocardiographic study

M-mode echocardiography was used to study cardiac involvement in 78 patients with acromegaly. Proportionate concentric or eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was a common finding. Calculated left ventricular mass (LVM) was increased significantly in a hormonally active disease group compared to an inactive disease group or a control group (153 +/- 7 vs. 96 +/- 8 and 89 +/- 3 g/m2 resp.; p less than 0.001 for both). The increase of LVM in hormonally active disease is due to predominantly LV dilatation, whereas associated hypertension, if present, aggravates the LVH exclusively due to thickening of the LV wall. Hypocorticalism, if present, does not influence the degree of LVH. Asymmetric septal hypertrophy was not found to be specific for acromegaly and was seen in only 7.7% of patients. There was no correlation between LVM and both the plasma levels of growth hormone and duration of disease. On the basis of a retrospective analysis of LVM in successfully treated patients the authors conclude that specific heart muscle disease in acromegaly, manifesting itself as LVH, is slowly reversible after cessation of the growth hormone hyperproduction.