HYPERTENSIVE HEART-DISEASE - HOW DOES BLOOD-PRESSURE AFFECT LEFT-VENTRICULAR MASS

Currently, echocardiography is the most accepted tool for diagnosing the left ventricular hypertrophy that characterizes hypertensive heart disease; electrocardiography is not adequately sensitive. The symptoms and signs of coronary artery disease (CAD) and of hypertensive heart disease are similar and include angina, myocardial infarction, systolic and diastolic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, ventricular ectopy, and sudden death. Thallium stress testing is useful for excluding significant CAD; a positive test requires cardiac catheterization to eliminate large-vessel disease as the cause of myocardial ischemia. Regression of left ventricular hypertrophy is a treatment goal.