Echocardiographic comparison of left ventricular structure and function in hypertensive patients with primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension.

Background: In experimental renovascular hypertension, aldosterone has been implicated in myocardial remodeling and fibrosis, but it is uncertain whether excess aldosterone effects left ventricular structure and function in hypertensive patients.

Methods: Hypertensive patients from the Cardiovascular Center of the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York and the Russian Cardiovascular Research Institute, Moscow, Russia, were studied. The sample included 35 patients with primary aldosteronism and 35 controls with essential hypertension matched for age, gender, and blood pressure (BP).

Silent myocardial ischemia in patients with essential hypertension.

The aim of this study was to determine the significance of the "coronary factor" in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Electrocardiogram Holter monitoring was performed in 61 patients with EH stage II (according to the World Health Organization criteria). Silent, ie, painless ST-segment depression, was found in 34 patients on whom echocardiography, a treadmill test, and transesophageal pacing were performed.

Altered sympathetic tone in hypertensives with angina and lowered threshold for pacing ischemia.

To determine the role of the sympathetic nervous system in myocardial ischemia with essential hypertension, plasma norepinephrine, heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and the HR.BP double product at the time of silent ischemia during pacing and exercise treadmill test (ETT) were compared with basal values in 20 patients with sustained essential hypertension and stable angina, 3 to 60 days (12.6 +/- 11.