CHANGES OF LEFT-VENTRICULAR FUNCTION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

As many as 81 patients suffering from stage II essential hypertension (EH) and 20 practically healthy persons of the same age were examined. EH patients manifested derangement of systolic function of the left ventricle, attested to by a decrease of contractility in the first third of the systole. The lowering of the velocity of active relaxation, change in the structure of the filling of the left ventricle coupled with a decrease of the role of the rapid filling phase and a rise of the contribution of the phases of slow filling and the atrial systole were noted. A decrease of the blood flow velocity at the phase of the atrial systole was also noted, which points to a decrease of the compensatory role of the left atrium in elderly patients. As compared to younger patients, compensatory hypertrophy of the left ventricle was pronounced relatively less in elderly patients. In these patients, compensatory potentialities of the hypertrophied left ventricle are preserved until the index of the left ventricular mass exceeds 170 g/m2. The further growth of that indicator is associated with a decline of the cardiac output.