Left Ventricular Filling and Hypertrophy in Active and Surgically Treated Disease

jects and 13 patients with systemic hypertension. We related Doppler indices of LV filling (E and A peak velocities and EtA ratio) to the duration of acromegalic disease, the GH plasma levels and LV mass. The LV mass/BSA was significantly greater in active acromegaly (187 ± 53 g/sq m) and systemic hypertension groups (161 ± 48 g/sq m) than in cured acromegaly (125 ± 35 g/sq m) and the normal control group (109 ± 36 g/sq m) (pacromegaly (E/A: 0.9 ± 0.2), cured acromegaly (EtA: 0.9 ± 0.3), and systemic hypertension (E/A: 0.8 ± 0.5). An E/A ratio < 1 was found in 13 patients with active and four with cured acromegaly; (p = NS). In the active acromegaly group, the E/A ratio was related to either LV mass or the duration ofdisease (r: - 0.45 and - 0.47, respectively; pacromegaly group, the E/A ratio was related to the duration of disease before surgery (r: - 0.70; pacromegaly but also in those successfully treated by surgery after a long duration of the disease, despite normal LV mass. These LV filling abnormalities may be in part determined by nonreversible myocardial changes, such as interstitial tissue fibrosis.