[The heart in acromegaly: an echocardiographic study]

Clinical examinations including echocardiography were performed for 14 acromegalic patients (five men and nine women, whose mean age was 48.6 years). Three of these had hypertension (HT) above 160/95 mmHg, three had diabetes mellitus (DM). Their cardiac sizes and functions were correlated with the durations of disease and plasma growth hormone (GH) levels. The incidences of HT and DM were also evaluated. Three of 14 patients (22%) had increased cardiothoracic ratios (greater than 55%). Electrocardiographic abnormalities were noted in three patients including two with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and one with interventricular conduction defects with abnormal Q waves. By echocardiography (Table 2), nine patients (64%) were judged to be normal. The remaining five patients (36%) had abnormal echocardiograms. These included LVH (sums of the interventricular and posterior wall thicknesses greater than or equal to 25 mm) in two (25 mm in Case 10, 30 mm in Case 11), increased left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (EDD greater than or equal to 55 mm) in one (72 mm in Case 14) and both abnormalities in two patients (Cases 12 and 13). Two patients (Case 13 and 14), whose %FS were 17% and 22%, respectively, had definite evidence of congestive heart failure. Two patients (Case 11 and 13) met the diagnostic criteria for asymmetric septal hypertrophy. One patient with echocardiographic LVH and another who had increased EDD with LVH had histories of HT (Case 11 and 12). Plasma GH levels in patients with LVH were greater than 100 ng/ml (Cases 10 and 11). The left ventricular hypertrophy and/or increased EDD observed in these patients seemed related to the duration of acromegaly but not to the presence of DM. Myocardial biopsy of the right ventricle in two patients with congestive heart failure disclosed myocardial hypertrophy, myocardial fiber disarray, interstitial fibrosis and large nuclei.