Hypertensive myocardial fibrosis.

A variety of cardiac structural and functional changes, such as increased left ventricular mass (LVM), left atrial and aortic root enlargement, LV dysfunction, impairment of coronary reserve and prolonged ven- tricular repolarization, have been described in patients with long-standing arterial hypertension [1,2]. However, subtle modifications in LV structure and geometry may occur also in the early phases of the natural history of essential hypertension [3]. Among these manifestations of target organ damage, most attention has been devoted to LV hypertrophy (LVH), because the prevalence of this phenotype is relatively high and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality [4,5].