The Heart in Hypertension

Abstract

Our understanding of cardiac involvement in hypertension has developed remarkably over the past decade. The heart was traditionally viewed only as a target organ adapting to the increased pressure load by hypertrophy and eventually failing if the load continued unremitted or was suddenly aggravated, particularly if complicated by the advent of coronary or myocardial disease. Many workers stressed the role of coronary atherosclerosis in the progression of this process; some even questioned whether hypertensive heart disease constituted a separate entity that could develop in the absence of coronary sclerosis.¹ These impressions were based mostly on the clinical criteria for diagnosis, . . .