Pathologic fibrosis and connective tissue matrix in left ventricular hypertrophy due to chronic arterial hypertension in humans

The progressive accumulation of interstitial collagen fibers in left ventricular hypertrophy, in parallel to an increase in heart weight, can be expected to contribute to a spectrum of ventricular dysfunction involving either the diastolic or systolic phase of the cardiac cycle, or both, that is associated with the greater than normal arrhythmogenic risk for a hypertensive heart. Moreover, the methodology used is useful for studying the spatial organization of the collagen fibrils of the myocardium under normal and pathologic conditions.