Evans C C, Hipkin L J, Murray G M
Thorax. 1977 Jun;32(3):322-7. doi: 10.1136/thx.32.3.322.
The lung volumes of 12 female and eight male patients with acromegaly, chosen because of the absence of associated cardiorespiratory disease, were determined physiologically and radiographically. Enlarged lung volumes were found in half the males but in none of the females, due allowance being made for the presence of a significant thoracic kyphosis. Upper airway narrowing was suggested by an increase in the expiratory-inspiratory flow rate ratio in six patients, four of whom were male, and acromegaly of the larynx was confirmed in the three subjects who consented to laryngoscopy. Upper airway obstruction is more likely to account for respiratory death in acromegaly than disordered pulmonary function in enlarged acromegalic lungs. Neither of these respiratory findings could be correlated with the fasting level of growth hormone but there was a suggestion that they were more likely to occur when the duration of the disorder was longer.
选取12名女性和8名男性肢端肥大症患者，因其无相关心肺疾病，对其肺容量进行了生理和影像学测定。由于存在明显的胸椎后凸，半数男性患者肺容量增大，但女性患者均未出现。6名患者（其中4名男性）的呼气-吸气流速比增加，提示上气道狭窄，3名同意接受喉镜检查的患者证实存在喉部肢端肥大症。与肢端肥大症患者肺容量增大导致的肺功能紊乱相比，上气道梗阻更有可能是肢端肥大症患者呼吸死亡的原因。这些呼吸方面的发现均与生长激素的空腹水平无关，但有迹象表明，疾病持续时间较长时更易出现这些情况。
