cation of lipid peroxidation with the onset of AMI and UAP and the peroxidative burst on reperfusion of the ischemic tissues warrant the use of some free radical scavenging modality during acute coronary syndromes. Experimental studies and preliminary clinical observa- tions in this direction have shown promising re- sults. 5,17–19 Whether such beneficial effects would trans- late into better mechanical and electrical stabilization and improved outcome in acute coronary syndromes needs to be urgently tested. We conclude that there is an excess of lipid peroxidation in patients with coronary artery dis- ease, and the peroxidative processes are further intensified at the time of AMI and UAP. During the course of AMI, a peroxidative burst is observed in the first few hours after thrombolytic therapy. Acknowledgment: We thank Ghulam Mohmad Wani, DVSc, and Bashir Ahmad Pathan, MSc, for their technical assistance and advice, and Farooq Ah- mad, BSc, for his secretarial assistance. 1. 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Haramaki N, Packer L, Assaudnazari H, Zimmer G. Cardiac recovery during post-ischemic reperfusion is improved by combination of vitamin E with dihy- drolipoic acid. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1993;196:1101–1107. Relation of Left Ventricular Geometry and Function to Aortic Root Dilatation in Patients With Systemic Hypertension and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (The LIFE Study) Jonathan N. Bella, MD, Kristian Wachtell, MD, PhD, Kurt Boman, MD, Vittorio Palmieri, MD, Vasilios Papademetriou, MD, Eva Gerdts, MD, PhD, Tapio Aalto, MD, Michael H. Olsen, MD, PhD, Mona Olofsson, BA, Bjo ¨rn Dahlo ¨f, MD, PhD, Mary J. Roman, MD, and Richard B. Devereux, MD, for the LIFE Study Investigators E chocardiographically detemined left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is an independent predictor of increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients. 1,2 Recent reports have de- scribed associations between LV geometric adaptation and extracardiac target organ damage in essential hy- pertension, with hypertensive patients with concentric LV geometry having the most advanced fundoscopic abnormalities, the greatest renal dysfunction, 3 and the most severe abnormalities of carotid artery structure and function. 4,5 However, although geometric and functional abnormalities of medium-sized capacitance arteries associated with LV hypertrophy have been identified in relatively mild, uncomplicated hyperten- sion, 4,5 relations of the size of the most proximal portion of the systemic arterial tree (the aortic root) to LV geometry and function have not been elucidated in patients with more severe hypertension. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to identify the clin- ical and echocardiographic characteristics of hyper- From Cornell Medical Center, New York, New York; Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark; Skelleftea ˚ Lasarett, Skelleftea ˚, Sweden; Veterans Administration Medical Center, Washington, DC; Haukeland Hospital, Bergen, Norway; Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland and Sahlgrenska University Hospital-O ¨ stra, Goteborg, Sweden. This study was supported by Grant COZ-368 from Merck and Company, Inc., West Point, Pennsylvania. Dr. Wacht- ell is supported by a grant from Editor and Mrs. Anders Christian Kaarsen’s Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Devereux’s ad- dress is: Division of Cardiology, Box 222, The New York-Presbyterian Hospital, 525 East 68th Street, New York, New York 10021. E-mail: rbdevere@mail.med.cornell.edu. Manuscript received June 29, 2001; revised manuscript received and accepted October 2, 2001. 337 ©2002 by Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved. 0002-9149/02/$–see front matter The American Journal of Cardiology Vol. 89 February 1, 2002 PII S0002-9149(01)02238-X