Aortic valve calcification and mild tricuspid regurgitation but no clinical heart disease after 8 years of dopamine agonist therapy for prolactinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Treatment with ergot-derived dopamine agonists, pergolide, and cabergoline has been associated with an increased frequency of valvular heart disease in Parkinson's disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of valvular heart disease in patients treated with dopamine agonists for prolactinomas.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study.


METHODS
We performed two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography in 78 consecutive patients with prolactinoma (mean age 47 +/- 1.4 yr, 26% male, 31% macroprolactinoma) treated with dopamine agonists for at least 1 yr (mean 8 +/- 0.6 yr) and 78 control subjects. Patients were classified according to treatment: patients treated with cabergoline (group 1: n = 47) and patients not treated with cabergoline (group 2: n = 31).


RESULTS
Clinically relevant valvular heart disease was present in 12% of patients (nine of 78) vs. 17% of controls (13 of 78) (P = 0.141) and 17% (eight of 47) of patients treated with cabergoline vs. 3% (one of 31) of patients not treated with cabergoline (P = 0.062). Mild tricuspid regurgitation was present in 41% of patients vs. 26% of controls (P = 0.042), and aortic valve calcification was present in 40% of patients, compared with 18% of controls (P = 0.003). There was no relation between the cumulative dose of cabergoline and the presence of mild, moderate, or severe valve regurgitation.


CONCLUSIONS
Several years of dopamine agonist treatment in patients with prolactinomas is associated with increased prevalence of aortic valve calcification and mild tricuspid regurgitation but not with clinically relevant valvular heart disease. Therefore, additional studies on the adverse cardiac effects of dopaminergic drugs in prolactinoma are warranted, especially in patients with much longer use of these drugs.
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. m.kars@lumc.nl
Marleen
M
Kars
Victoria
V
Delgado
Eduard R
ER
Holman
Richard A
RA
Feelders
Johannes W A
JW
Smit
Johannes A
JA
Romijn
Jeroen J
JJ
Bax
Alberto M
AM
Pereira
D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D000077465:Cabergoline; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000139:chemically induced*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004873:Ergolines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015995:Prevalence; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D014262:Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency / Q000139:chemically induced*
D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D004873:Ergolines; D000077465:Cabergoline