Abstract
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an independent risk factor for cardiac
death. This study evaluates the prevalence and patterns of LVH in patients with
predialysis chronic renal failure (CRF) and analyses the relationship between
LVH and various predisposing factors. Sixty-two CRF patients were recruited from
the renal clinic with serum creatinine over 2 mg/dl. Using echocardiography, we
calculated the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness
(RWT), and classified the patients into four groups (Group 1: normal, Group 2:
concentric remodelling, Group 3: concentric hypertrophy, Group 4: eccentric
hypertrophy). Prevalence and patterns of LVH in patients with CRF were as
follows; 6.5% in Groups 1 and 2, 56.5% in Group 3 and 30.5% in Group 4. LVMI
increases with progressive renal function decline. There were linear
correlations between LVMI and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), serum
creatinine (Scr) and intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) in patients with
predialysis CRF and also inverse linear correlations between LVMI and creatinine
clearance (Ccr) and hemoglobin. In conclusion, we demonstrate the high
prevalence of LVH (87%) in patients with predialysis CRF and concentric
hypertrophy (56.5%) was the main pattern of LVH. Several factors such as anemia,
systolic and diastolic BP, renal function and PTH influence LVMI.