Cardiac Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Fülszöveg

l.eft ventricular hypertrophy is usually considered to be a compensatory adjustment of heart muscle to an increased load. LVH develops in the course of valvular or congenital heart disease, or when part of the heart is infarcted. Cardiac hypertrophy, however, is not purely a beneficial adaptation of the muscle; the more advanced stages of hypertrophy are associated with structural changes, which eventually lead to serious disorders of cardiac function. From epidemiological studies it is known that even mild LVH is associated with myocardial ischemia, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. The association is striking, which suggests that the cardiac mortality and morbidity in hypertension valvular disease, and in post-infarction patients, is due to a large extent to associated hypertrophy. The importance of LVH on different disease processes of the heart has only recently been fully recognized.
The development of echocardiography provided the tool to detect LVH to a... Tovább

Fülszöveg

l.eft ventricular hypertrophy is usually considered to be a compensatory adjustment of heart muscle to an increased load. LVH develops in the course of valvular or congenital heart disease, or when part of the heart is infarcted. Cardiac hypertrophy, however, is not purely a beneficial adaptation of the muscle; the more advanced stages of hypertrophy are associated with structural changes, which eventually lead to serious disorders of cardiac function. From epidemiological studies it is known that even mild LVH is associated with myocardial ischemia, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. The association is striking, which suggests that the cardiac mortality and morbidity in hypertension valvular disease, and in post-infarction patients, is due to a large extent to associated hypertrophy. The importance of LVH on different disease processes of the heart has only recently been fully recognized.
The development of echocardiography provided the tool to detect LVH to a high degree of accuracy. Advances in research on hypertrophied muscle gave insight into the process of hypertrophy and showed new ways of influencing the process. In clinical studies it was demonstrated that regression of LVH is possible and that the regression process can be influenced by medical treatment.
This book contains 17 chapters on left ventricular hypertrophy. The epidemiological features of LVH are discussed and the association of LVH with blood pressure and a series of additional factors are explored. There is a separate section on cellular properties in LVH and another on the interaction of the hypertrophied heart and the body, and on the influence of hormones in the process of hypertrophy. Impaired coronary perfusion is an important problem in LVH and is discussed by three contributors in another section. Recent developments in the diagnostic techniques and therapeutic aspects, including regression of LVH, are presented in the two final chapters of the book. Cardiac hypertrophy is rapidly becoming a subject of major importance in clinical cardiology. Vissza