Cardiac effects of 3 months treatment of acromegaly evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging and B-type natriuretic peptides

Long-term treatment of acromegaly prevents aggravation and reverses associated heart disease. A previous study has shown a temporary increase in serum levels of the N-terminal fraction of pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) suggesting an initial decline in cardiac function when treatment of acromegaly is initiated. This was a three months prospective study investigating short-term cardiac effects of treatment in acromegalic patients. Cardiac function was evaluated by the gold standard method cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) and circulating levels of B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP and NT-proBNP). CMRI was performed at baseline and after 3 months of treatment. Levels of IGF-I, BNP and NT-proBNP were measured after 0, 1, 2 and 3 months. Eight patients (5 males and 3 females, mean age 53 ± 12 years (range 30–70)) and 8 matched healthy control subjects were included. Median IGF-I Z-score decreased from 4.5 (range 2.5–6.4) to 2.3 (−0.1 to 3.3). At baseline the patients had increased left ventricle mass index (LVMI) compared to control subjects (ΔLVMI 35 g/m² (95% CI 8–63 g/m², P = 0.016). After 3 months of treatment there was an increase in end-diastolic volume index EDVI (ΔEDVI 9 mL/m² (95% CI 3–14), P = 0.007) and an increase in levels of BNP (median (ranges) 7 (0.58–286) vs. 20 (1–489) pg/mL, P = 0.033) and of NT-proBNP (63 (20–1004) vs. 80 (20–3391) pg/mL, P = 0.027). Assessed by the highly sensitive and precise CMRI method, 3 months treatment of acromegaly resulted in an increase in EDVI, and increased levels of BNP and NT-proBNP suggesting an initial decrease in cardiac function.