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Query: UMLS:C0020538 (hypertension)
 170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Experience in the management of 100 cases of acromegaly is described. Three quarters of these had been referred directly to the endocrine clinic at the Middlesex Hospital. The remainder were referred from the Royal Post-graduate Hospital because they were thought unsuitable for yttrium implantation. The patients were studied by clinical assessment of severity, by measurement of basal growth hormone levels on three separate mornings, and by a review of possible complications. Particular attention was paid to diabetes, hypertension, cardiomegaly, respiratory, vascular and skeletal changes as well as visual field defect. Aggressive treatment was recommended in 77 patients. It was not recommended in the remainder on account of age, intercurrent illness or the apparent mildness of the condition. Fifty-nine patients were treated by trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy. In 46 of the 59 patients the mean basal growth hormone level has been reduced to 5 ng/ml or less. In 39 this followed operation, in five operation and subsequent X-ray therapy and in two operation and the continuing effect of previously implanted yttrium. Of these 46 patients in whom the growth hormone level has been reduced to normal, 26 do not show any deficiency of anterior pituitary trophic hormones, 13 have gonadotrophin defect (in eight of these it was present before the operation) and seven require full replacement therapy. One patient died at home six weeks after the operation from a pulmonary embolus. There was one case of CSF rhinorrhoea which stopped spontaneously and three of acute frontal sinusitis. Trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy is shown to be an effective means of treating acromegaly. If the basal level of growth hormone is not reduced to normal by six weeks after operation, it is recommended that a course of X-ray therapy should be given. This does not apply if irradiation has been used before operation.
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PMID:The treatment of acromegaly with special reference to trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy. 115 91

Of hormones secreted by the pituitary, a direct effect on cardiac metabolism and function is exerted only by growth hormone (GH). Its chronic overproduction in adulthood leads to acromegaly. The main cardiovascular manifestations of acromegaly are hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy. The paper summarizes the results of clinical research into the "acromegalic heart" in an internationally unique group of 78 patients with acromegaly on long-term follow-up. Both clinical findings and experimental data available in the literature indicate that cardiac hypertrophy is due to a direct effect of GH on the myocardium. Hypertension occurs in 50% of patients, has the nature of volume hypertension and exerts only an additive effect on the development of left ventricular hypertrophy. Once GH overproduction has been eliminated, cardiac hypertrophy and hypertension can be reversed to a certain stage, a finding highlighting the necessity of instituting treatment of acromegaly as early and as vigorous as possible.
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PMID:Heart in pituitary diseases. 130 50

Growth hormone (GH) hypersecretion is associated with an increased incidence of hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy, resulting in excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Abnormalities in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) system have been reported in acromegaly and in normal adults treated with recombinant human GH. The RAA system was investigated in prepubertal children with idiopathic short stature during treatment with recombinant human GH in doses up to 40 IU/m2/week. In addition, left ventricular size and function were assessed by serial echocardiography over an initial 12-month period. Modest and transient increases in blood pressure and body weight were observed during the first 7 days of GH treatment, but this was not accompanied by activation of the RAA system. Echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular size and function remained within the normal range for age and body size. Short-term GH treatment of idiopathic short stature was thus not associated with an increase in risk factors known to be associated with later cardiovascular morbidity. Longer follow-up studies will be required to confirm the safety of high-dose GH in this respect.
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PMID:Growth hormone treatment in idiopathic short stature: a preliminary analysis of cardiovascular effects. 130 8

Primarily hypervolaemic, high output forms of hypertension, with features indicating or strongly suggesting fluid overload as the cause of elevated cardiac output, resulting from renal disease with reduced glomerular filtration rate causing sodium retention, renal tubular causes of sodium retention, greatly excessive sodium intake and low renin hypertension, can be treated by reduction of sodium intake and potentiation of its excretion by diuretic therapy, removal of the cause (e.g. aldosteronoma), and calcium antagonists. Excessive vasoconstriction resulting from noradrenaline (norepinephrine) in neurogenic hypertension, phaeochromocytoma, orthostatic hypertension and alpha-adrenergic drug administration; angiotensin excess due to renal ischaemia brought about by aortic coarctation, renal arterial and arteriolar stenosis, intraluminal obstruction, external renal compression, renin-producing tumours, intrinsic kidney diseases and excessive renin substrate; and vascular structural disorders such as atherosclerosis, arteriolitides and fibrosis with or without calcification of major arteries may also induce hypertension. Secondary hypertension of uncertain mechanism may occur in hyperparathyroidism, hyper-or hypothyroidism, or acromegaly. All are best treated by appropriate correction of the endocrine excess or deficiency. It may also occur in pregnancy, where the mechanism may involve prostaglandin-thromboxane imbalance or calcium deficiency; calcium deficiency with some evidence of benefit from calcium supplements; and the recumbent hypertension paradoxically associated with autonomic failure. Excellent responses to specific correction of the underlying cause or pathogenetic mechanism is usual in young individuals but less frequent in older patients.
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PMID:Secondary hypertension. An overview of its causes and management. 137 54

Myocardial hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis are common in acromegalic hearts and may induce left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. The transmitral flow pattern was examined by pulsed-wave Doppler in 20 patients with active acromegaly and nine with acromegaly cured by pituitary microsurgery. Control groups consisted of 25 normal subjects and 13 patients with systemic hypertension. We related Doppler indices of LV filling (E and A peak velocities and E/A 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) (p < 0.01 for both). No differences were found in the E peak velocity, A peak velocity, and E/A ratio in the groups with active acromegaly (E/A: 0.9 +/- 0.2), cured acromegaly (E/A: 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 of disease (r:-0.45 and -0.47, respectively; p < 0.05). In the cured acromegaly group, the E/A ratio was related to the duration of disease before surgery (r:-0.70; p < 0.05) and not to LV mass (r:0.12). In conclusion, an impairment in LV filling may be present not only in the patients with active acromegaly 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.
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PMID:Acromegalic cardiomyopathy. Left ventricular filling and hypertrophy in active and surgically treated disease. 139 69

Acromegaly is an uncommon disorder and may present in a variety of ways, leading to considerable delay in diagnosis. Unlike other pituitary tumors, tumors associated with acromegaly tend to be fairly large in most patients. Thus, symptoms may be commonly due to the tumor mass as well as to hormone oversecretion. Mortality is two- to threefold increased due to cardiovascular, respiratory, and neoplastic causes. An increase in diabetes mellitus and hypertension may contribute to the first of these. Early treatment may reverse the diabetes, soft tissue changes, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and neuromuscular disease. The effect of early treatment on neoplasia is unclear, and patients probably should continue to be screened, especially for colon neoplasia, even after appropriate therapy for the acromegaly. Hypopituitarism may be present initially as a result of tumor mass but may also develop as a result of ablative therapy.
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PMID:Clinical manifestations of acromegaly. 152 14

The microcirculation was measured by nail-fold capillary video microscopy in 21 patients (12 men, 9 women; mean age 54.7 [29-74] years) with acromegaly. Levels of growth hormone (12.0-71.7 microU/ml) and of somatomedin C (2.4-10.5 IU/ml) were elevated in 10 patients, despite preceding treatment. Eleven patients had an increase in myocardial thickness and nine had impairment of left ventricular function, although only slight in most. Left ventricular hypertrophy was demonstrable even in the absence of hypertension. No patient had evidence of coronary heart disease. Nail-fold capillary video microscopy (capillary density, torque index, reactive hyperaemia, epidermal blood flow) failed to distinguish between successfully treated patients and those with persistently elevated growth hormone concentrations or disease duration of over 5 years. There was no evidence of inadequate capillary blood flow as a cause of abnormal function in hypertrophied organs.
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PMID:[Cardiac function and the skin microcirculation in acromegaly]. 153 57

A case of anaplastic astrocytoma following radiotherapy for growth hormone secreting pituitary adenoma is presented with a review of the literature. A 43 year old female was admitted with the signs of acromegaly and hypertension. An eosinophilic pituitary adenoma was subtotally removed by transsphenoidal approach, and followed by 60 Gy irradiation using a 2 x 2 cm lateral opposed field. Fourteen years later at the age of 57, she suffered from headache, recent-memory disturbance and uncinate fits. CT scan and MRI disclosed ring-like enhanced mass lesion in the left temporal lobe, corresponding to the previous irradiated field. 18F-FDG PET showed hypermetabolism at the lesion. Left frontotemporal craniotomy was performed, and a reddish gray gelatinous tumor containing necrotic center and cyst was partially removed. Histologically, the tumor consisted of hypercellular astrocytic cells with perivascular pseudorosette. Coagulation necrosis at the center of the tumor, and hyalinosis and fibrosis of the blood vessels in and around the tumor, which might have been caused by the antecedent radiotherapy, were recognized. Postoperative radio- and chemotherapy were given, however, she expired 13 months after the operation. Seven cases, including ours, of malignant glioma following radiotherapy for pituitary adenoma were reported in the literature. A total dose of irradiation varies from 45 to 95 Gy with a mean of 50 Gy. The period of latency before tumor occurrence ranges from 5 to 22 years with a mean of 10 years. The differentiation of radiation-induced gliomas from radionecrosis of the brain is also discussed.
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PMID:[Anaplastic astrocytoma 14 years after radiotherapy for pituitary adenoma]. 157 77

Administration of human growth hormone (GH) is associated with clinically significant sodium retention. There is evidence that the antinatriuretic properties of GH are mediated by activation of the renin-angiotensin system, as well as a direct action on the kidney. The antinatriuretic properties of GH may be of pathophysiological significance in acromegaly, where increased body sodium and plasma volume occur, and may contribute to the development of hypertension in this condition.
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PMID:Role of growth hormone in fluid homeostasis. 180 84

Heart disease frequently occurs in advanced acromegaly. In order to investigate cardiac mass and function in acromegaly in the absence of obvious cardiac disease, we performed Doppler echocardiography in 15 asymptomatic acromegalic patients (six of them had systemic hypertension). The data were compared with those of a group of 10 age-matched controls. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was increased in acromegaly (110 +/- 32 vs 32 +/- 12 g m-2, P = 0.02), but shortening fraction and systolic time intervals did not differ. Mitral EF slope was decreased (80 +/- 21 vs 101 +/- 30 mms-1, P less than 0.02), while the duration of the isovolumic relaxation period (IRP) was increased (92 +/- 13 vs 69 +/- 16 ms, P less than 0.01). Hypertensive acromegalic patients (n = 6) had a higher LVMI than normotensive acromegalic patients (n = 9) (133 +/- 27 vs 94 +/- 24 g m-2, P = 0.02) and this was confirmed by a meta-analysis of data in the literature: the prevalence of hypertrophy was 76% in the presence of hypertension vs 50% in its absence, P less than 0.002. IRP was prolonged in normotensive acromegalic patients vs normal controls (90 +/- 11 vs 69 +/- 16 ms, P less than 0.01). In conclusion, subclinical cardiac abnormalities occur frequently in acromegaly in the absence of obvious heart disease, and hypertrophy is observed in asymptomatic hypertensive acromegaly. Moreover, diastolic abnormalities are found in asymptomatic acromegaly and could be caused by several heart-related factors.
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PMID:Cardiac hypertrophy and function in asymptomatic acromegaly. 183 May 50


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