This article appraises the current evidence regarding growth hormone and testosterone deficiencies in HF and reviews novel findings about the treatment of these conditions in HF.
Acromegaly is a pathological condition associated with excess growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and a high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and heart failure; resulting in premature death.
We hypothesized that local myocardial overexpression of GH could prevent ventricular remodeling and heart failure following myocardial infarction (MI) in rats.
GH effects were examined at early (4 months) and late (10 months) phases of disease in the cardiomyopathic (CM) hamster, and the combination of GH with chronic ACE inhibition was assessed in late-phase heart failure.