Increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death linked to thickening of heart’s right ventricle

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in a new study that thickening of the heart’s right ventricle is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death in patients without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline. The study is published on-line ahead of print in the journal Circulation.

“In most studies of the heart, researchers have focused on the more-easily-imaged left ventricle, the region of the heart affected by systemic high blood pressure and other common conditions,” stated study author Steven Kawut, M.D., M.S., associate professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program at Penn. “But we know from the results of this study and previous work that focusing attention on the right ventricle (RV) is critical in our understanding of many conditions of the heart and lungs. This research revealed that approximately one in 10 heart failure events and cardiovascular deaths may be attributed to thickening of the RV in adults without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline.”

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Submited at Saturday, September 8th, 2012 at 12:15 am on Uncategorized by samantha
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