Radiological evaluation of cardiovascular changes correlated with blood pressure and age in Korean men

ABSTRACT

Cardiovascular measurement on PA teleroentgenogram of the chest is simple, but very useful in the diagnosis,prognosis, and therapy of hypertensive patients. The authors have measured and calculated cardiothoracic ratio,Lt, to Rt. cardiac diameter ratio, and Lt, aortic knob width to thoracic diameter ration for evaluation of theeffect of blood pressure and age in hypertensive group. We used materials of 70mm fluorography of 255 hypertensivemen above 150/90mmHg chosen from national police hospital during Jan. from Aug. 1981. Their age ranged from 20 to50 yeras. The results were as follows. 1. Cardiomegaly (above 50 percents in cardiothoracic ration) ofhypertensive men is 26%. 2. The cardiothoracic ration increased progressively with blood pressure and age, butpooly correlated between cardiothoracic ration and age than blood pressure. 3. The Lt. to Rt. cardiac diameterration gave similar trend to the cardiothoracic ration. It indicates that hypertensive cardiac enlargement mainlydepned on Lt. Ventricular enlargement. 4. The Lt. aortic knob width to thoracic diameter ration increasedprogressively with blood pressure and age, and had linear correlationship with blood pressure and age. Therefore,prominence of aortic knob is the most significant finding in hypertensive cardiovascular disease.