The heart in acromegaly: correlation of echocardiographic and clinical findings

Echocardiography was performed in 14 patients with acromegaly in order to characterize cardiac involvement in this disease. The left ventricle was enlarged or hypertrophic in 10 patients (71%): the fraction of myocardial shortening, an index of left ventricular contractility, was normal in all but one; and 10 patients had a reduced mitral EF slope, suggesting that their left ventricular compliance was reduced. Cardiac disease was not suspected clinically as most patients had normal clinical, ECG and X-ray examinations of the heart. Left ventricular hypertrophy occurred in the absence of hypertension, diabetes or evidence of coronary artery disease. There was a positive correlation between left ventricular wall thickness and duration of acromegaly but not between the former and growth hormone levels after fasting, suggesting that ther must be prolonged hypersecretion of growth hormone, and not simply high levels, before cardiac hypertrophy develops.