Despite current evidence suggesting that hemodynamic load is the fundamental stimulus to begin the sequence of biological events leading to the development of left ventricular hypertrophy, genotype, gender, body size, and less easily recognizable environmental factors may contribute to generate the cascade of molecular changes that eventually yield the increase in protein synthesis needed to in...

IN THE PAST, clinical assessment of left ventricular function has been largely limited to the measurement of pressure and flow. Recently methods have been developed for the in vivo measurement of left ventricular volumes in man.1-3 Rackley and associates4 have described a method for determining left ventricular mass. The determination of left ventricular volume and mass are of definite help in ...

Left ventricular hypertrophy resulting from hypertension is accompanied by significant morbidity and mortality and in advanced stages may be irreversible. Hence, early detection of cardiac changes in hypertensive patients remains an important diagnostic goal. When the hypertrophy is mild or moderate, parameters of left ventricular diastolic function and measurements of left atrial size may faci...

OBJECTIVES We sought to compare the predictive value of echocardiographically determined left ventricular hypertrophy on death from all causes and cardiac mortality using various methods of indexation for left ventricular mass. BACKGROUND Considerable controversy exists regarding the optimal method for indexing left ventricular mass to body size in the clinical setting. METHODS The study in...