[The acromegalic heart disease (author's transl)].

The clinical and pathological findings of 3 patients with acromegalic heart disease are reported. In 2 of them no other causes of the cardiopathy could be recognized but a primitive involvement of the myocardium. The GH is responsible of cardiac hypertrophy without overload, which would shift towards progressive congestive heart failure. A possible depletion of intramyocardial cathecolamines is postulated in acromegalic heart disease as much as in cardiomegalies with pressure or volume overload.