The spectrum of cardiac abnormalities in patients with acromegaly: results from a case-control cardiac magnetic resonance study.
De Alcubierre D., Feola T., Cozzolino A., Pofi R., Galea N., Catalano C., Auriemma RS., Pirchio R., Pivonello R., Isidori AM., Giannetta E.
PURPOSE: Cardiac abnormalities are common in patients with acromegaly, contributing to the increased morbidity and mortality. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is the gold standard for measuring cardiac morpho-functional changes. This study aims to detect cardiac alterations in acromegaly through CMR, even when the disease is adequately controlled. METHODS: In this, multicentre, case-control study, we compared consecutive patients with acromegaly, cured after surgery or requiring medical treatment, with matched controls recruited among patients harbouring non-functioning adrenal incidentalomas. RESULTS: We included 20 patients with acromegaly (7 females, mean age 50 years) and 17 controls. Indexed left ventricular-end-diastolic volume (LV-EDVi) and LV-end-systolic volume (LV-ESVi) were higher in patients than in controls (p