The Affects of Acromegaly on the Heart

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The Affects of Acromegaly on the Heart

• Pamela Pierre
• BIO 475-03

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Symptoms of Acromegaly

• Headaches
• Kidney failure
• Arthritis
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Heart failure (due to the enlargement of the
  heart)

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Physical Characteristics

• Enlarged hands, arms, feet (extremities)
• Enlargement of facial features
• -nose
• -tongue
• -lips
• -jaw

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Acromegaly of the Extremities
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Affect of Acromegaly on the Skull and Facial
Features
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What causes acromegaly?

• Pituitary adenoma benign tumor in the pituitary
  gland
• Rare cases tumor found in the lungs, pancreas, or
  in the adrenal glands.

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Pituitary Adenoma

• Growth Hormone (GH) protein hormone responsible
  for growth and reproduction of cells
• Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)
  responsible for growth during childhood and
  contributing factor behind acromegaly

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Pituitary Adenoma cont.

• The benign tumor causes the overproduction of GH,
  which then stimulates the liver to secrete IGF-1
• IGF-1 causes the overgrowth in the bones
• People without acromegaly have affective way to
  reduce GH called the somatostatin
• Somatostatin reduces the production and secretion
  of GH

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Acromegaly on the Heart

• Acromegaly can cause heart failure because of the
  constraint on the heart. The following
  conditions and diseases can occur due to
  acromegaly
• Arterial stiffness
• Aortic pressure
• Cardiomyopathy
• Cardiac Dysrhythmias

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Acromegaly of the Heart

• Causes the change of the structure and function
  of the heart.

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Cardiomyopathy

• Cardiomyopathy literally means heart muscle
  disease
• Condition where the number of myocytes increases
  within the ventricular walls without the cardiac
  chambers increasing in size.

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Cardiomyopathy
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Cardiac Dysrhythmias

• Are conditions where the electrical activities of
  the heart is evaluated.
• People who suffer from acromegaly usually suffer
  from irregular electrical activities or either
  dysrhythmias causes the electrical impulses to
  occur faster or slower than usual.

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Normal EKG
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Cardiac Arrhythmia
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References

• Images provided by
• www.faqs.org
• http//www.acromegaly.org.uk/acromegaly.jpg
• http//johnkstuff.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/pam
  ela-734833.jpg
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e
  /Idiopathic_cardiomyopathy2C_gross_pathology_20G0
  018_lores.jpg

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References

• http//www.umm.edu/graphics/images/en/18092.jpg
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85
  /EKG_VF.jpg
• http//www.mercksource.com/ppdocs/us/common/dorlan
  ds/dorland/chapters/images/w0146_e_6.jpg