Heart failure as a manifestation of acromegaly.

ABSTRACT

Acromegaly is a rare disease with incidence of 3-4 patients per 1 000000 per year, which is mainly caused by benign tumour of the pituitary gland. Long-term presence of elevated growth hormone (GH) and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels accompanying this disease is associated with rheumatologic, cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic complications. Cardiovascular complications of acromegaly include a cardiomyopathy, arterial hypertension, arrhytmias, valvulopathy as well as endothelial dysfunction. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in patients with acromegaly. An early diagnosis of acromegaly significantly influences both morbidity and mortality of patients suffering from this disease. We describe a 39-year-old patient with undiagnosed acromegaly presented with acute heart failure caused by acromegalic cardiomyopathy.