Abstract

The lung volumes of 12 female and eight male patients with acromegaly, chosen because of the absence of associated cardiorespiratory disease, were determined physiologically and radiographically. Enlarged lung volumes were found in half the males but in none of the females, due allowance being made for the presence of a significant thoracic kyphosis. Upper airway narrowing was suggested by an increase in the expiratory-inspiratory flow rate ratio in six patients, four of whom were male, and acromegaly of the larynx was confirmed in the three subjects who consented to laryngoscopy. Upper airway obstruction is more likely to account for respiratory death in acromegaly than disordered pulmonary function in enlarged acromegalic lungs. Neither of these respiratory findings could be correlated with the fasting level of growth hormone but there was a suggestion that they were more likely to occur when the duration of the disorder was longer.