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. 2001 Oct;86(4):467–475. doi: 10.1136/heart.86.4.467

Essential hypertension: the heart and hypertension

K Berkin 1, S Ball 1
PMCID: PMC1729925  PMID: 11559694

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Figure 1:  .

Figure 1:  

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Pressure wave effects of compliance and changes in peripheral resistance. Increase in peripheral resistance is the major cause of the increase in mean blood pressure (horizontal bar) with age. In addition the loss of "distensibility" of the large vessels—that is, the decrease in compliance with age—leads to the change in shape of the blood pressure curve as shown, with relative enhancement of the systolic pressure (right hand curve). When loss of compliance is severe diastolic pressure may even fall as seen in patients in their last decade of life. N = normal; ↑ = increase; ↓ = decrease.

Figure 2:  .

Figure 2:  

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(A) Twelve lead ECG showing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in the limb leads only. The patient was obese, which reduces the sensitivity of the chest leads for LVH. (B) Twelve lead ECG showing LVH and widespread strain pattern. The strain pattern denotes a worse prognosis. Ischaemia (large and/or small vessel) is likely to be present.

Figure 3:  .

Figure 3:  

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M mode (left panel) and two dimensional (right panel) echocardiography (parasternal long axis view) demonstrating concentric LVH in a female patient (septum 13 mm; left ventricular (LV) cavity 48 mm; posterior wall 13 mm). The measurements (leading edge to leading edge) are taken just beyond the tips of the mitral valve (MV) leaflets at end diastole. Care must be taken not to include the right ventricular band in the septal measurement. RV, right ventricle; AV, aortic valve.

Figure 4:  .

Figure 4:  

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Magnetic resonance images. (A) Long axis view showing pronounced left ventricular dilatation and thinning of the interventricular septum (arrow) (True-FISP acquisition). (B) Mid-ventricular short axis view of the same patient as in (A), showing the dilated left ventricle with thinning (arrow) of the septum (True-FISP acquisition). (C) Another patient but a similar view to (B) acquired from a single phase gradient echo cine and in contrast showing pronounced hypertrophy of the left ventricle. The thin walled right ventricle can be seen wrapping around the left ventricle, lying superiorly and to the left on the cross sectional views. The views are similar to a cross sectional two echo view. Note the clarity of the endocardial border, allowing accurate estimation of left ventricular volume and mass. LA, left atrium; LV, left ventricle, RV, right ventricle. (Images provided by Dr U M Savananthan.)

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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