Effects of Losartan on Cardiac Structure and Function in Patients with Essential Hypertension

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of losartan on cardiac structure and function in patient with essential hypertension. Methods Thirty patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were treated with losartan for 12 weeks. The changes of cardiac structure and function were investigated with echocardiography. Results Blood pressure was decreased significantly with treatment of losartan for 4 weeks ( P 0 001). The thickness of left ventricular wall was reduced slightly after 4 weeks treatment ( P 0 01～0 05) and decreased more for 12 weeks ( P 0 001～0 01). Left ventricular diastolic function was improved at the end of 4 weeks. Left ventricular mass index(LVMI) was positively related to systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ( P 0 05). Diastolic function was negatively correlated to blood pressure and thickness of left ventricular wall ( P 0 05). Conclusion Losartan could considerably and safely decrease blood pressure. It also produced a significant regression of left ventricular hypertrophy and improvement of left ventricular diastolic function. [