Echocardiography in hypertension. Dimensions and mass of the left ventricle. Comparison with controls and sportsmen.

The investigation was carried out to determine dimensions and mass of the left ventricle (LV) in relation to the stages of essential arterial hypertension (HT). 93 male non-congestive hypertensives (WHO stages I to III) were examined by means of echocardiography (UCG) (2.25 MHz single element transducer), using the T - M - technique (Organon - Technika, The Netherlands). The results were compared with those of 75 controls and 21 endurance sportsmen. Differences in the wall thickness of the LV in the hypertensives compared with that in normotensive subjects can be shown quite easily. For this purpose the UCG is more sensitive than an ECG. There is, however, a poor correlation between the WHO stages and the actual wall thickness. On the other hand, a close correlation was found to exist between wall thickness and average systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure (r = 0.72, 0.68, 0.70). The LV dimensions do not differ substantially from those obtained for normotensives. The ventricular mass/volume ratio shows a characteristic shift towards the mass in HT. This quotient helps to differentiate between various forms of hypertrophy and/or dilatation as demonstrated for instance in sportsmen.