Growth hormone therapy in dilated cardiomyopathy monitored with MRI
Left ventricular failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) severely impairs the prognosis of patients [1]. A pilot study of recombinant human growth hormone (GH) indicated very strong effect on myocardial wall thickness and ejection fraction in these patients [2]. However, study was not controlled, and sample size was small (seven patients). In the setting of a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial we assessed the impact of recombinant human growth hormone on 50 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy using MRI and conventional echocardiography [3]. The parameters measured were left ventricular (LV) diameters, LV volumes and LV ejection fraction as well as LV muscle mass and end systolic wall stress. The numbers of subjects needed to detect changes of 10 and 20% of baseline values were calculated.