Reversal of acromegalic cardiomyopathy in young but not in middle-aged patients after 12 months of treatment with the depot long-acting somatostatin analogue octreotide

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of death of patients with acromegaly. AIM To investigate whether young patients with a presumed short disease duration are more likely to reverse the acromegalic cardiomyopathy than older patients with longer disease duration. DESIGN An open prospective design. PATIENTS Ten young (aged < 40 years), and 12 middle-aged (41-59 years) patients with active acromegaly well controlled after 12 months of treatment with the depot formulation of octreotide (OCT-LAR); 22 sex- and age-matched healthy subjects as controls. METHODS Left ventricular (LV) mass (LVM) by echocardiography and performance by equilibrium radionuclide angiography were measured before and after 12 months of OCT-LAR treatment. RESULTS At study entry, none of the controls and 14 patients (63.4%) of whom six were young (chi(2) = 17.7; P < 0.0001) had LV hypertrophy (LVH); none of the controls and four patients of whom one was young had insufficient LV ejection fraction (LVEF) at rest (< 50%); one control and 13 patients (59.1%) of whom five were young (chi(2) = 12.7; P < 0.0001) had inadequate LVEF at peak exercise (DeltaLVEF; < 5% increase of baseline). After 12 months, no change in haemodynamic and diastolic parameters was observed in both groups, except for a significant decrease in heart rate at peak exercise in young patients (P < 0.0001). The LVM index decreased significantly in both young (124.4 +/- 5.8 vs. 103.4 +/- 3.9 g/m(2) ; P = 0.01) and middle-aged patients (140.9 +/- 7.9 vs. 117.8 +/- 6.6 g/m(2) ; P = 0.03). LVH disappeared in 10 of 14 patients (71.4%): all six young and four of eight middle-aged patients (50%). LVEF at rest and at peak exercise increased significantly in both groups but DeltaLVEF increased significantly only in young patients (1.5 +/- 2.9 vs. 13.7 +/- 5.2%, P = 0.04); it normalized in nine of 13 patients (69.2%), four of five young (80%) and four of eight middle-aged patients (50%). Exercise capacity (82.5 +/- 5.3 vs. 110.0 +/- 5.5 W, P = 0.005) and duration (7.3 +/- 0.3 vs. 9.9 +/- 0.4 min, P = 0.0003) also increased only in young patients. CONCLUSIONS The acromegalic cardiomyopathy is reversed in most young patients with short disease duration and achieving disease control after OCT-LAR treatment for 12 months, indicating that early diagnosis and effective treatment are essential.