The Weight of the Heart and Its Chambers in Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease with and without Failure

The myocardial weights of the different cardiac chambers were determined in 130 cases of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, both with and without failure. The left ventricle hypertrophies before and continues to hypertrophy after the advent of congestive failure. The right ventricle and both auricles hypertrophy only after failure develops. In correlating the ventricular work with its muscle mass, the left ventricle apparently performs twice as much work per gram as the right ventricle. Several possible explanations for this apparent greater efficiency of the left ventricle are presented. The changes in chamber weights are discussed in relation to concepts of congestive failure.