SFEBES2014 Poster Presentations Obesity, diabetes, metabolism and cardiovascular (80 abstracts)
1Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 2Department of Endocrinology, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 3Department of Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUH), John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK; 4Department of Endocrinology, Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; 5School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (CEDAM), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Background: In patients with phaeochromocytoma, sudden and/or chronic exposure to catecholamines may predispose to cardiac pathology, including left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, stress-induced cardiomyopathy and heart failure. We conducted the first prospective, multicentre study using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to describe the variety and incidence of cardiac abnormalities in phaeochromocytoma.
Methods: Fifty patients diagnosed with phaeochromocytoma were included. We prospectively recruited patients newly-diagnosed with phaeochromocytoma (n=20) with CMR before and after surgery (median 1 year follow-up). Previously-diagnosed patients who had curative surgery (n=30) were also recruited. Patients with known cardiac conditions were excluded. CMR included cine imaging for LV function, T2-weighted imaging for oedema and late gadolinium enhancement imaging to detect scarring.
Results: In newly-diagnosed patients, the mean LV ejection fraction was 67±10% (range 4788%; normal 5781%); 20% (n=4/20) had mild global LV dysfunction (EF=4756%). A significant proportion (65%, n=13/20) demonstrated scarring, all with a non-ischaemic pattern (midwall/subepicardial/patchy), but the areas were small (<10% myocardium); no patient had myocardial infarction (subendocardial scarring). One patient demonstrated global myocardial oedema with normal EF. All LV dysfunction or oedema normalised in postoperative follow-up. Previously-diagnosed patients had a slightly higher EF of 73±7% (5686%) compared to newly-diagnosed patients (P<0.03); only one (3%) had mild global LV dysfunction (EF=56%). A significantly smaller proportion of previously-diagnosed patients (17%, n=5/30; P<0.001) demonstrated areas of scarring, which again were small with a non-ischaemic pattern, except for one patient who suffered a small myocardial infarction.
Conclusion: Cardiac involvement is common (65%) in patients newly-diagnosed with phaeochromocytoma, including small areas of non-ischaemic scarring, mild LV dysfunction and myocardial oedema the latter two demonstrating full reversibility and normalization post surgical resection of the phaeochromocytoma. In patients previously undergone curative surgical resection, the incidence of cardiac abnormalities is lower (17%), predominantly consisting of small areas of non-ischaemic fibrosis.