Echocardiograph changes in patients with malignant phase hypertension: the West Birmingham Malignant Hypertension Register

In order to study the echocardiographic abnormalities in consecutive patients with malignant phase hypertension (MHT), we reviewed echocardiograms of 31 patients (23 male; mean age 52+/-14 years) with MHT who were admitted to our unit. Trans-thoracic echocardiography was carried out in all patients, and echocardiographic measurements were compared with those of 39 patients (30 male; mean age 54+/-10 years) with controlled nonmalignant essential hypertension, and 32 (19 male; mean age 51+/-10 years) healthy normotensive volunteers. Patients with MHT had a significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P