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How important is echocardiography for risk stratification in follow-up of patients with chronic kidney disease?

Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology volume 3, pages 178–179 (2007)Cite this article

Although more-refined techniques based on nuclear magnetic resonance are available, quantitative echocardiography is currently the most frequently used means of evaluating abnormalities in left ventricular mass (LVM) and function. Echocardiography allows detailed examination of the pericardium, valvular apparatus, atria and ventricles, and reasonably reliable quantification of LVM and left ventricular function. This technique also provides information on left ventricular geometry (i.e. it identifies the pattern of cardiac remodeling as eccentric or concentric), and allows estimation of left ventricular function during the systolic and diastolic phases of the cardiac cycle.

In patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), LVM increases progressively as renal function deteriorates,1 and in a substantial number of cases this trend is not arrested by dialysis.2 Partial regression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) occurs only after renal transplantation, or when long-term control of arterial hypertension or severe uremic anemia has been achieved. Prospective studies have consistently demonstrated that LVH is common in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD; 70–80% prevalence) and that it entails a gloomy prognosis. For this reason, measurement of LVM by echocardiography is now a key outcome measure in interventional studies of patients with ESRD or stage 3–4 CKD.

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  1. Ospedali Riuniti, Nefrologia (VI Piano), Via Vallone Petrara, Reggio Calabria 89124, Italy carmine.zoccali@tin.it

Authors and Affiliations

  1. C Zoccali is Head of the Unit of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, and of the Section of Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, National Research Council, Reggio Calabria, Italy.,

    Carmine Zoccali

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  1. Carmine Zoccali
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Zoccali, C. How important is echocardiography for risk stratification in follow-up of patients with chronic kidney disease?. Nat Rev Nephrol 3, 178–179 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneph0441

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