Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Acromegaly is characterized by chronic hypersecretion of growth hormone (GH) with increased concentration of IGF-1. It is known that patients with acromegaly have a high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. We evaluated vascular changes by performing echodoppler ultrasonography in our series of patients.

Methods: Ultrasonographywas performed on 10 patients within one week after transsphenoidal surgery. The study includes 6 male and 4 female patients with an average age of 55.2 years. Intima-media thickness (IMT) of both internal carotid arteries was measured by M-Mode ultrasonography.

Results: Mean time between symptom onset and diagnosis was estimated as 10 years. All 6 male patients showed no structural arterial changes (6/10). Mild carotid wall plaques were detected in 3 female patients (3/10), the haemodynamic assessment was within normal range. One female patient showed severe vascular abnormalities (1/10).

Conclusion: In our series, all male patients showed normal findings in the echodoppler ultrasonography. Plaques could only be detected in female patients. The prevalence for severe atherosclerosis is 10%.