"IMPROVEMENT" IN THE HYPERTENSIVE PATTERN OF THE ELECTROCARDIOGRAM*

Excerpt

Changes in the electrocardiograms of patients with essential hypertension have been described and considered as: (1) Characteristic of that condition¹; (2) Indicative of hypertensive heart disease²; (3) Objective criteria of progress either favorable or unfavorable as the result of drugs,³ diet⁴ or surgical treatment.⁵

Observations herewith presented show (a) that the hypertensive pattern may be reversed by weight loss without change in the blood pressure (figure 1); (b) that inverted T waves may be reversed in 16 days with a weight loss of only 11 pounds, left axis deviation and the hypertension continuing (figure 2), and (c) that apparent improvement