Cardiac arrhythmias and left ventricular hypertrophy in systemic hypertension and their influences on prognosis.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is the adaptative mechanism of the heart to systolic overload of the left ventricle. Nevertheless, LVH plays a role in some complications, such as cardiac arrhythmias. Patients with LVH are more likely to develop ventricular arrhythmias than the hypertensive population without LVH. Further, the relation between left ventricular mass and ventricular arrhythmias is graded and continuous. The arrhythmias described in hypertensive patients with LVH are usually isolated premature ventricular contractions. The presence of electrocardiographic criteria of LVH represents a risk of higher incidence of sudden death, especially in men. The risk is even greater in the presence of ventricular arrhythmias. The presence of late potentials has been recently characterized as more related to ventricular arrhythmias than LVH. Antihypertensive drugs that can reduce LVH also have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular morbility and mortality.