To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Enlarged Heart And Mild Hypertension A Potentially Deadly Combination URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/6A3DA.htm Doctor's Guide April 6, 1998
NEW YORK, NY -- April 6, 1998 -- The combination of an enlarged heart and delays in the heart's electrical activity can be life threatening for people with borderline or mild high blood pressure, but the problem can be corrected with high blood pressure medications, according to a landmark study published in the American Journal of Hypertension. "It is the first time that researchers have confirmed that there is a potentially fatal link between a change in the size of the heart's main pumping vessel, a condition that is known as left ventricular hypertrophy, and significant delays in electrical impulses that make the heart beat efficiently, which is called increased QT dispersion, even in patients whose blood pressure elevation seems minor," said Michael Weber, MD, an editor of the American Journal of Hypertension. A team of researchers at Japan's Teikyo University School of Medicine, studied 85 men with mild or borderline hypertension during a three-year period. The men did not receive any high blood pressure medication. Instead, they were given health education on lifestyle modification, which many experts consider a standard of care for people with borderline hypertension. At the end of three years, however, 32 of the 85 men were found to have enlarged hearts. Of importance, the investigators also discovered that this enlargement, or hypertrophy, was associated with significant delays in the electrical activity of these patients' hearts, as measured by electrocardiogram. The patients were compared with a control group of age-matched healthy Japanese male volunteers selected from those who underwent annual physical check-ups with echocardiography. When the 32 hypertensive men whose hearts became enlarged were treated for their high blood pressure, there was a tendency for their hearts to return to a more normal size. In addition, the electrical delay, or QT dispersion, tended to be normalised. "To our knowledge, this is the first report to evaluate the association between the geometric pattern of left ventricular hypertrophy and QT dispersion and to examine these changes longitudinally in subjects with borderline and mild hypertension," said Hirofumi Tomiyama, MD, principal investigator of the study. The researchers noted that their findings suggest that changes in QT dispersion reflect the progression and regression of left ventricular hypertrophy. This may share the same significance with left ventricular hypertrophy in the prognosis of hypertensive patients. "This research indicates that in patients with even milder forms of hypertension, an increase in heart size is not an innocent finding," Dr. Weber explained. "Heart enlargement almost invariably leads to heart attacks, sudden cardiac death or heart failure. "Fortunately, effective treatment of high blood pressure that reverses the thickening of the heart's wall also appears to restore electrical activity to normal in these patients." Nearly 50 million Americans have hypertension, called the silent killer because it prematurely ages the body's arteries and can lead to strokes, heart attacks and kidney disease, often without warning. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.