Related Experiment Videos
Cerebral infarction and left ventricular mass: a clinical and echocardiographic study
M Bahemuka1, M al-Nozha, A R Shamena
1Division of Neurology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Hypertension is common in stroke patients, especially those over 50. Many stroke patients with cerebral infarction have elevated left ventricular mass, indicating undiagnosed hypertension.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- Hypertension Research
Background:
- Arterial hypertension is a significant risk factor for stroke.
- Clinical assessment may underestimate hypertension prevalence in stroke patients.
- Left ventricular mass is an indicator of cardiac adaptation to hypertension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of hypertension in stroke patients.
- To compare left ventricular mass between stroke patients and controls.
- To identify potential underdiagnosis of hypertension in stroke victims.
Main Methods:
- Echocardiography was used to measure left ventricular mass in 102 stroke patients and controls.
- Patients were categorized by age (≤50 and >50 years) and clinical hypertension status.
- Exclusion criteria included valvular/congenital heart disease and myocardial infiltrative diseases.
Main Results:
- 32% of stroke patients were hypertensive by WHO criteria.
- Mean left ventricular mass was significantly greater in stroke patients than controls (p<0.025).
- Stroke patients over 50 showed significantly greater left ventricular mass than controls (p<0.02).
- Clinically normotensive stroke patients had higher left ventricular mass than normotensive controls (p<0.02).
- No significant difference in left ventricular mass was observed in patients aged 50 and under.
Conclusions:
- The frequency of arterial hypertension in cerebral infarction patients is higher than clinically detected.
- Left ventricular hypertrophy suggests a higher prevalence of hypertension, particularly in older stroke patients (>50 years).
- Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular mass may aid in identifying previously undiagnosed hypertension in stroke patients.
Abstract:
One hundred and two stroke patients were studied. Thirty-three (32 per cent) were hypertensive by the WHO criteria. Eighty-three (83 per cent) had cerebral infarction and three patients suffered from spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage. The mean left ventricular mass was calculated from echocardiographic measurements and compared with that of controls. Neither cases nor controls had valvular or congenital heart disease, or disease processes that may be associated with myocardial infiltration. Mean left ventricular mass of all cases was significantly greater than that of controls (p less than 0.025) and that of the cases over the age of 50 years was also significantly greater than that of controls of the same age (p less than 0.02). The clinically normotensive cases had greater left ventricular mass than the normotensive controls (p less than 0.02). Meanwhile left ventricular mass in patients aged 50 and under was not significantly different from the appropriate control group (p greater than 0.2). These data indicate that the frequency of arterial hypertension among victims of cerebral infarction is greater than may be ascertained clinically particularly in those over 50.