The aortic width as an index of hypertension--how specific?

Primary aortic diseases are believed to be rare in our environment, the result of which is to attribute increase in aortic width to hypertension. This premise has advised certain widely held views in the past, one of which is that heart muscle diseases (dilated cardiomyopathy) is hypertensive heart disease in disguise. New trends in knowledge have led to a shift in ground. Dilated cardiomyopathy is now thought to be an end-stage situation with many factors operating. This has prompted this re-look at the main factor that advised the earlier stand, namely the aortic width on chest X-ray. 48 patients in hypertensive heart failure and 50 in heart failure from dilated cardiomyopathy were studied. Aortic root dimensions were measured on chest X-ray and echocardiography. The results point to the fact that in our adult population, aortic dimension is a poor specific index of hypertension, as there was no statistically significant difference between the groups.