title: Measurement of wall thickness alone does not accurately assess the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy.
abstract: Clinical echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is generally performed by measuring wall thickness alone (WT). The objective of this study was to compare the assessment of LVH using the measurement of WT to that using indexed LV mass. Hypertensive patients underwent echocardiography with the measurement of LV WT and LV mass. For each patient, the presence of LVH was assessed by both methods with WT compared to the gold standard of LV mass index. In all, 92 patients (51M/41F) were entered, and in only 55 patients (60%) were the two methods concordant. There was a tendency for WT to underestimate LVH in females (sensitivity 37%, specificity 79%) and overestimate LVH in males (sensitivity 88%, specificity 56%). The measurement of WT alone overestimates LVH in males and underestimates LVH in females and should not be used as a surrogate marker for increased LV mass.
authors.affiliation: Coronary Care Unit and Department of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. oleibo@hadassah.org.il
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leibowitz
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Planer
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ben-Ibgi
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rott
authors.forename: A Teddy
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bursztyn
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling