[Current aspects of arterial hypertension. Doppler echocardiography. Value and indications].
DETECTION OF LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY: High blood pressure can lead to left ventricular hypertrophy and is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease. Echocardiography can be used to measure left ventricular mass based on equations established from anatomoclinical studies. Echocardiography can also give a precise map of the left ventricle allowing a prognostic classification: poor prognosis, concentric remodeling, eccentric hypertrophy, concentric hypertrophy.


METHODS
Doppler-echocardiographic analysis of left ventricular filling provides information on systolic function and is clearly indicated in case of symptomatic hypertension, or associated cardiopathies or electrocardiographic abnormalities. Indications should be discussed in case of moderate hypertension in order to evaluate the cardiovascular risk.
Because of the low reproducibility, Doppler-echocardiography is not useful for follow-up of established left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients, all the more so since it has not been established that regression is associated with improved cardiovascular prognosis.
Amah
G
G
Service de Médecine interne, Hôpital Broussais, Paris.
Safar
M E
ME
D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*