Cardiac ischemia and cardiac hypertrophy. An autopsy study.

In 50 selected postmortem examinations, the degree of roentgenographic coronary arterial stenosis was correlated with various heart and chamber weights. An important relationship was demonstrated between increasing arterial narrowing and total heart muscle weight, particularly when patients with known hypertension or valvular disease were excluded. The relationship held true for individual chamber weights, suggesting that ischemia is associated with whole heart hypertrophy rather than simple left ventricular enlargement. No definite association could be demonstrated between left ventricular weight and any measurement of blood pressure.