Abstract: Objective To investigate the alterations of cardiac structure and function in acromegalic patients by using echocardiography.Methods Sixty patients,diagnosed as acromegaly,were selected as research subjects.Thirty-four sex and age matched normal individuals were used as control.Patients and control groups underwent echocardiography.Besides,among the sixty patients,seventeen patients suffered from diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance,and were denoted as subgroup cases.The results of both were analysed.Results 1)Left ventricular mass(LVM) and LVM index(LVMi) were higher in patients with acromegaly than in control subjects,reaching values of left ventricular hypertrophy(46.7%).The patient group also showed apparent cardiac chambers enlargement.Through the multiple stepwise regression analysis,the duration of the disease and serum GH level were the main influencing factors of acromegalic cardiomyopathy.2) Ejection fraction(EF) and fractional shortening(FS),were decreased,compared to control group,they still remained in normal range.3) Isovolumic relaxation time(IRT)and E wave descending time(MDT),were delayed apparently compared to control group,indicating the damage of cardiac relaxation.4)Subgroup analysis in acromegalic: The comparison between patients with diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance(DM/IGT) and patients without DM/IGT showed that there was no significant difference in terms of the parameters in the two groups,in spite of an mild increase of IVST in the former group.ConclusionThe echocardiographic alterations of cardiac structure mainly were LV hypertrophy and the increase of the LVM,the enlargement of the cardiac cambers.Changes of cardiac function mainly were the impairment of diastolic function.However,the systolic function still remained in normal range for a long time.

Key words: growth hormone, acromegaly, echocardiography, heart