Myocardial systolic strain abnormalities in patients with acromegaly: a prospective color Doppler imaging study

Background: Heart abnormalities are frequent findings in patients with acromegaly: systolic abnormalities are considered to be secondary to diastolic changes. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether early systolic abnormalities might be revealed in acromegalic patients using the high sensitive color Doppler myocardial imaging (CDMI) technique. Patients and methods: Twenty-two consecutive acromegalic patients with active untreated disease (ACROUNTR) were evaluated at baseline and after a 6-month course with SS analogs (SSa) (ACROSSa); 25 healthy subjects served as controls. All subjects underwent conventional 2D-color Doppler echocardiography, pulse wave tissue Doppler imaging (PW-TDI) and CDMI. Results: Mean left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction did not differ in ACROUNTR and in controls; at variance, ACROUNTR patients had reduced mean LV diastolic function (E/A ratio: 0.96±0.3 vs controls: 1.6±0.3; p