Acromegaly with Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Acromegaly is a rare condition with an approximate incidence of 3-4 new cases per million per year and occurs as a result of excess secretion of growth hormone (GH). It is associated with several cardiovascular manifestations of which dilated cardiomyopathy with systolic and diastolic dysfunction is relatively rare but associated with increased mortality. There are very few documented cases of acromegaly with dilated cardiomyopathy in Indian female patients in literature, thus justifying the uniqueness of our case. We report a case of acromegaly in a 41 year old female patient who remained undiagnosed for 6 years and presented to us for the first time with symptoms of heart failure. The symptoms were attributed to dilated cardiomyopathy resulting from a prolonged and excessive exposure of the myocardium to a GH secreting pituitary tumor. Subsequently she underwent trans-sphenoidal resection of the pituitary macroadenoma.