While hypertension is known to cause left ventricular and vascular hypertrophy, the relationship between alterations of vascular and cardiac structures in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has not been fully clarified. We measured intima-media thickness of carotid arteries by ultrasonography in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 16), normotensive subjects (n = 358), and hype...

In Project HeartBeat!, a longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease risk factors in healthy children and adolescents, 3 samples of 40, 80, and 182 echocardiograms, respectively, were randomly selected and reread to evaluate intraobserver and interobserver variabilities and comparability between measurements of field echocardiographic technicians and reference readings at Texas Children’s Hosp...

In Project HeartBeat!, a longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease risk factors in healthy children and adolescents, 3 samples of 40, 80, and 182 echocardiograms, respectively, were randomly selected and reread to evaluate intraobserver and interobserver variabilities and comparability between measurements of field echocardiographic technicians and reference readings at Texas Children's Hosp...

OBJECTIVES The goal of our study was to investigate the relationships between atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and type A natriuretic peptide receptor (NPRA) gene polymorphisms and left ventricular structure in human essential hypertension. BACKGROUND Experimental evidence supports a key role for natriuretic peptides in the modulation of cardiac mass. This re...

BACKGROUND Isolated septal myectomy is considered the gold standard for refractory left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction at centers with dedicated hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) surgeons. In this paper, we provide an update on the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) experience for isolated septal myectomy and comment on the safety and efficacy of myectomy in patients with...

1. Changes in left ventricular structure and function were assessed by echocardiography in 22 patients before and after 9 months blood pressure control. 2. Nine patients had normal baseline echocardiograms (group 1) and 13 had echocardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (group 2). 3. Group 2 patients demonstrated significant reductions in posterior wall thickness (P < 0.01), sept...

Asymmetric septal hypertrophy, or ASH, is a genetically determined myocardial disorder that is transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait. ASH is characterized by a disproportionately thickened ventricular septum that contains numerous hypertrophied, bizarrely-shaped and disorganized cardiac muscle cells. Disproportionate hypertrophy of the ventricular septum has also been observed in associati...

BACKGROUND Serum cystatin C levels can be used to predict morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, the clinical relevance of serum cystatin C levels in patients with hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has rarely been investigated. We designed the present study to investigate whether serum cystatin C levels are associated with cardiac structural and ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical characteristics of left ventricular fat replacement. METHODS We identified 45 patients [28M/17F, mean age (51.9 ± 14.7) years] with left ventricular myocardial fat replacement (CT value ≤ -30 Hu) by cardiovascular CT. RESULTS Among 45 patients, 25 patients [20M/5F, mean age (61.2 ± 10.4) years]were diagnosed as coronary artery disease (CAD). There was 56%s...

background: early diagnosis of left ventricular mass (lvm) inappropriateness and left ventricular hypertrophy   (lvh) can result in preventing diastolic left ventricular dysfunction and its related morbidity and mortality. this study was performed to determine if diastolic dysfunction   is associated with lvh and inappropriate lvm. methods: one hundred   and twenty five uncomplicated hypertensi...