Cardiac function in endocrine diseases: I. Acromegaly.

The aim of our echocardiographic study was to characterize cardiac function and anatomy of 14 acromegalics (A: 9 women, 5 men; mean age: 42.4 yrs) more closely. The duration of acromegaly in 4 of these patients was between 3 and 12 years; the disease was diagnosed for the first time in the other patients. Double M-mode echocardiography was performed in all patients and the results compared with data obtained from a control group of 24 healthy volunteers (N: 22 men, 2 women; mean age: 23 yrs). The mean left ventricular diameter at end-diastole was greater in the acromegalics than in the controls (A: 55 +/- 6 mm, N: 50 +/- 4 mm; p less than 0.005, means +/- SD). After correction for age and body surface area, it, however, was outside the 95% confidence interval in 5 patients. Left ventricular hypertrophy was present in 3 patients, one of whom had coexistent arterial hypertension. A total of 3 patients were hypertensive. Significantly higher values for the maximal velocity of systolic wall thickening (A: 6.1 +/- 0.6 cm/s, N: 4.2 +/- 0.6 cm/s, p less than 0.001) and diameter change (A: 12.4 +/- 2.0 cm/s, N: 10.6 +/- 1.0 cm/s, p less than 0.005) indicate increased contractility with concurrently increased relaxation; fractional shortening did not differ significantly (A: 38 +/- 5%, N: 37 +/- 5%, ns). The isovolumetric relaxation period at diastole was slightly longer in the acromegalics (A: 70 +/- 17 ms, N: 61 +/- 13 ms, p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)