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Echocardiography [UCG] in hypertension. Myocardial performance comparison with controls and sportsmen
Insights
Hypertensive individuals at rest do not exhibit overall heart functional loss, despite potential increases in left ventricular mass. Echocardiography (UCG) reveals preserved myocardial function in most hypertensive patients compared to healthy individuals.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Diagnostic Imaging
Background:
- Hypertension (HT) is a global health concern affecting cardiovascular function.
- Echocardiography (UCG) is a valuable non-invasive tool for assessing cardiac performance.
- Understanding early functional changes in hypertensive hearts is crucial for timely intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate cardiac function in pre-treated male non-congestive hypertensives using echocardiography (UCG).
- To compare the myocardial function of hypertensive patients with normotensive individuals and endurance sportsmen.
- To investigate the relationship between left ventricular mass and cardiac performance in hypertension.
Main Methods:
- Utilized echocardiography (UCG) to measure key cardiac parameters including mean velocity of fibre shortening (mVCF), fibre shortening (FS%), ejection fraction (AF), stroke volume (SV), and end-diastolic volume (EDV).
- Compared UCG results from 93 pre-treated male non-congestive hypertensives against 75 normotensives and 21 endurance sportsmen.
- Analyzed data considering the degree of hypertension based on WHO standards.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant decrease in myocardial function was observed in hypertensive patients, even with increasing hypertension severity.
- The hearts of hypertensive individuals, at rest, generally did not show an overall functional loss.
- A trend towards reduced cardiac performance relative to left ventricular mass was noted in hypertensives, particularly when compared to sportsmen with similar degrees of hypertrophy.
Conclusions:
- Early-stage hypertension, even with pre-treatment, may not significantly impair resting cardiac function as assessed by UCG.
- While overall function may be preserved, relative performance decline concerning left ventricular mass warrants further investigation in hypertensive patients.
- Endurance sportsmen with comparable left ventricular hypertrophy demonstrate superior cardiac performance, highlighting the adaptive benefits of physical training.
Abstract:
Thanks to a number of parameters available, mean velocity of fibre shortening (mVCF), fibre shortening (FS%), ejection fraction (AF), stroke volume (SV), enddiastolic volume (EDV), echocardiography (UCG) is a non-invasive and well reproducible technique for examining the functioning of the heart. The UCG results obtained for 93 pre-treated male non-congestive hypertensives were compared with those obtained for 75 normotensives and 21 endurance sportsmen. In spite of the increasing degree of HT (WHO standards), the cases studied did not show a statistically significant decrease in the myocardial function. This study reveals that in general the heart of a hypertensive does not yet show at rest an overall functional loss. Compared with the left ventricular mass, however, a trend towards reduced performance can be seen, particularly when compared with sportsmen having a hypertrophy of a similar degree.