Regression of left ventricular hypertrophy as viewed from the periphery.

Despite the advances in antihypertensive therapy, the majority of patients who develop heart failure have antecedent hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, and a poor prognosis. Studies in animals and humans have shown that equipotent antihypertensive agents variously effect the regression of cardiac hypertrophy, one of the reasons for which may be the differences in their effects on vascular load and structure. Recent advances in instrumentation (micromanometers, applanation tonometers, ultrasonic probes, and so forth) have permitted the noninvasive measurement of pressure contours, vessel diameters, and pulse-wave velocity. This new technology has allowed the evaluation of the effects of antihypertensive agents on arterial compliance and structure in relation to the agent's ability to regress left ventricular hypertrophy.