Does Left Ventricular Mass Decrease During Antihypertensive Therapy?

The key to adequate therapy of hypertensive patients is no longer defined only as the decrease in casual diastolic blood pressure observed during treatment with antihypertensive agents. Other factors such as convenience of treatment regimen, patient compliance, safety of drugs, and the short-term and long-term effect of treatment on endorgans have gained increasing interest in recent years. Examples of the integration of these considerations now are frequently found in the medical literature. One such report was published in a 1984 issue of theArchives. 1 In that study, Weinstein 1 reported the effects of a once-daily regimen of antihypertensive therapy on blood pressure and left ventricular muscle mass in the treatment of hypertension. In this study, low doses of the antihypertensive agent, methyldopa (Aldomet), and the combination of hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride (Moduretic) were given once daily to 21 hypertensive patients. The effect of this therapy on blood pressure was carefully