Improvement of diastolic function after reversal of left ventricular hypertrophy induced by long-term antihypertensive treatment with tertatolol.

In 15 previously untreated hypertensive subjects with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy who responded favorably (supine blood pressure less than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg) to antihypertensive treatment with a nonselective beta-blocking agent, tertatolol, the effects of reversal of LV hypertrophy on systolic and diastolic function were assessed. Patients underwent echocardiographic and radionuclide studies in control conditions (phase 1), after 1 month of blood pressure normalization (phase 2), after reversal of LV hypertrophy or at least a 20% reduction of LV mass compared to basal value (phase 3) and finally, after a 1-month washout (phase 4). In phase 2, blood pressure (130 +/- 2/85 +/- 1 vs 148 +/- 4/104 +/- 1 mm Hg) and heart rate (59 +/- 1 vs 76 +/- 2 beats/min) decreased (both p less than 0.01); LV mass remained unchanged. There were improvements in peak filling rate (end-diastolic volume/s) (2.4 +/- 0.1 vs 2.0 +/- 0.1), ejection fraction (65 +/- 1 vs 61 +/- 1%) and their ratio (stroke counts/s) (3.7 +/- 0.2 vs 3.2 +/- 0.1) (all p less than 0.05). In phase 3, blood pressure and heart rate were unchanged and reversal of LV hypertrophy was accompanied by a further increase in peak filling rate (2.9 +/- 0.1), ejection fraction (69 +/- 1%) and their ratio (4.1 +/- 0.1) compared to phase 2 (all p less than 0.01). Finally, in phase 4 blood pressure and heart rate returned to the basal value, but peak filling rate (2.7 +/- 0.1) and ejection fraction (65 +/- 1%), although reduced compared to phase 3, were still higher than phase 1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)