What is Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) ?

LVH develops as the response of the heart to chronic pressure or volume overload and is defined as a left ventricular mass exceeding 13 1 g/m2 of body surface area in men and 100 g/m2 in women. Its incidence classes with age, blood pressure and obesity all of which are risk factors of CAD. LVH is independently associated with increased incidence of Cardio-vascular disease, Cardio-vascular and all-cause mortality, and stroke, Effective BP control in hy pertensive patients, along with non-pharmacological interventions such as weight reducing sodium, restriction and aerobic physical exercise, call reduce left ventricular mass. There are no conclusive data that the reduction of left ventricular mass can improve Cardiovascular outcome independently or the decrease in BP. There are also no standard universally accepted criteria for LVH and that limits the use of this risk factor in routine clinical practice. Even then LVH is associated with an increased risk of cardiac events within single studies and has been taken as a variable in risk scoring.