Hypertension and the heart

Epidemiologic studies led cardiologists to consider hypertension as a cardiovascular disease although hemodynamic methods developed in the early 1940s were in some cases already used with hypertensive patients (Fejifar and Fejifarova, 1961). Present knowledge of the role of the heart in hypertension is limited because the methods of measuring the more "peripheral" hemodynamic parameters, such as cardiac output, heart work, total blood volume, or resistance, are inadequate for characterization of cardiac function. An extensive application of invasive methods, however, may only be taken into consideration if, for instance, a preoperative diagnosis of coronary heart disease must be made at the same time. In addition, noninvasive methods such as phonocardiography, carotid sphygmography, conventional apex cardiography, and similar methods which were the only techniques available in the past, are of little use in the characterization of cardiac function and in hypertension.