Weight Reduction and Left Ventricular Mass
Spivack C., Camisa T., Quiros JC., Vandewoude MFJ., de Leeuw IH., Macmahon SW., Wilcken DEL., Macdonald GJ.
To the Editor: We are concerned that the study of MacMahon et al. (Feb. 6 issue),* although admirable in design, may have certain methodologic flaws. We doubt that reliable or reproducible M-mode measurements in an obese population can be made to fractions of a millimeter. It seems doubtful that M mode allows detection of a change from, say, 8.5 to 7.6 mm in the thickness of the posterior wall, or from 8.5 to 8.3 mm in the same structure (these numbers are from the authors' Table 2). In the obese, definition of the posterior wall and septum is simply not. © 1986, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.