Diastolic filling abnormality modified by left ventricular asynchrony in essential hypertension

Left ventricular (LV) asynchrony has been demonstrated to result in diastolic dysfunction. To test the hypothesis that altered LV synchrony interferes with LV diastolic function in essential hypertensive patients (HT), we performed radionuclide ventriculography and echocardiography in 38 HT and 11 normotensive subjects. LV diastolic asynchrony was measured as the sum (total delta t) of the absolute values of the time difference between global peak filling rate (PFR) and regional PFR. Global PFR and time to PFR were significantly reduced in HT. Although total delta t did not differ between two groups, total delta t significantly correlated with PFR (r = -0.44, p less than 0.01) in HT. Moreover, total delta t positively related to LV endsystolic stress and inversely related to LV ejection fraction in HT. Thus, LV asynchrony, in part, plays a role in early diastolic filling abnormality in hypertensive patients.