Echocardiographic detection of pressure-overload left ventricular hypertrophy: effect of criteria and patient population.
To evaluate the performance of M-mode echocardiography for detection of pressure-overload left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), we tested the sensitivity of previously defined sex-specific upper limits of normal echo LV measurements in 31 patients with necropsy-proven pressure-overload LVH and determined the prevalence of LVH detected by each echo criterion in 316 employed patients with uncomplicated hypertension, 100 patients with hypertension evaluated in a referral center, and 38 hospital patients with moderate to severe (WHO class 2) hypertension. Echo measurements were LV mass (LVM), LVM index (LVMI), cross-sectional area (CSA), septal and posterior wall thickness (IVST and PWT), LV internal dimension (LVID), and relative wall thickness (RWT). Prevalences of echo LVH were as follows. (Table: see text). Thus, echo criteria based on LVM are more sensitive than other measurements for detection of necropsy-proven pressure-overload LVH and reveal the highest prevalence of LVH in clinical hypertension populations, and the prevalence of LVH in hypertension is highly dependent on the population studied.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology