Recent insights into cardiac hypertrophy and left ventricular remodeling.

Cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory mechanism of the heart to maintain cardiac output under stresses that compromise cardiac function. Mechanical stretch and neurohumoral factors induce changes in intracellular signaling pathways resulting in increased protein synthesis and activation of specific genes promoting cardiac growth, eventually leading to left ventricular remodeling and cardiac dysfunction. The remodeling process results from alterations in cardiac myocytes as well as the extracellular matrix.