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[Carotid vascular structural changes and left ventricular hypertrophy]
N De Luca1, R Marchegiano, P Gisonni
1I Clinica Medica, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.
Insights
Essential arterial hypertension is linked to significant carotid artery structural changes and increased left ventricular mass index. These findings highlight the impact of hypertension on both cardiac and vascular health.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Hypertension Research
- Vascular Biology
Background:
- Limited research exists on carotid atherosclerotic involvement in essential arterial hypertension.
- Non-invasive methods like Doppler-echotomography enable accurate assessment of vascular and cardiac structural changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between carotid vascular structural changes and cardiac left ventricular mass index in hypertensive patients.
- To compare these parameters between normotensive subjects and patients with essential hypertension.
Main Methods:
- B-mode echotomography of the common carotid artery to measure vessel diameter and intima-media wall thickness.
- Echocardiography to determine left ventricular mass index.
- Sphygmomanometric measurement of arterial pressure.
Main Results:
- Hypertensive patients showed significantly higher systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure compared to normotensive individuals.
- Left ventricular mass index and common carotid intima-media wall thickness were significantly greater in hypertensive patients.
- In hypertensive patients, mean arterial pressure correlated significantly with left ventricular mass index, carotid arterial diameter, and intima-media wall thickness.
Conclusions:
- Hypertension is associated with significant structural changes in the common carotid artery.
- Cardiac abnormalities, specifically increased left ventricular mass index, accompany vascular structural changes in hypertensive patients.
- These findings underscore the systemic impact of essential arterial hypertension on cardiovascular structures.
Abstract:
In the literature there are few studies evaluating carotid vascular atherosclerotic involvement in patients with essential arterial hypertension. Nowadays with new non-invasive methodological methods, such as Doppler-echotomography, it is possible to evaluate accurately structural vascular and cardiac changes. In this study we evaluated the relationship between carotid vascular structural changes and cardiac left ventricular mass index in 15 normotensive subjects and in 15 patients with essential hypertension. We performed a B-mode echotomography (7.5 MHz) of a common carotid in order to measure the diameter of the vessel and intima-media wall thickness. In the same subjects we determined echocardiographic left ventricular mass index and we measured arterial pressure by sphygmomanometric method. There was no statistical significant difference in the two groups except that in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure (96 +/- 2 vs 123 +/- 2 mmHg, p < 0.01), left ventricular mass index (102 +/- 3 vs 118 +/- 3 g/m2, p < 0.01) and in the common carotid intima media wall thickness (0.91 +/- 0.01 vs 2.23 +/- 0.02 mm). In the normotensive subject mean arterial pressure correlated significantly with age (r = 0.699) and with common carotid arterial diameter (r = 0.523) (both p < 0.05). In hypertensive patients, on the contrary, mean arterial pressure correlated with left ventricular mass index (r = 0.523), carotid arterial diameter (r = 0.627) and common carotid intima media wall thickness (r = 0.847). These results demonstrate that in hypertensive patients cardiac abnormalities accompanied vascular structural changes.