The Relationship in Hypertensive Patients Endothelin Levels, Echocardiographic Findings and Valsartan

Aim: It is estimated that treatment options which lower endothelin (ET) levels may be a new treatment approach for hypertensive patients. For this purpose in this study, we investigated whether the antihypertensive effect of valsartan is due to its effect on serum ET levels or not. In addition to this, the relationship between serum ET evels and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was also determined. Material and Method: Twenty-three patients (14 men, 9 women) with an age range of 33-70 years having Stage 1 (n=3) or Stage II (n=20) hypertension according to the criteria defined by the Joint National Committee Report VII (JNC VII) were included. Results: Compatible to previous studies, serum ET evels of the hypertensive patients were higher than of the healthy controls (