Inappropriately high left ventricular mass: Marker of very high cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic kidney disease

There is increasing knowledge of the burden of cardiovascular (CV) diseases affecting patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). CV diseases are the main cause of death in the CKD population, and the majority of patients with CKD die before ever reaching the end-stage renal disease; in fact, for patients with CKD, the risk of a fatal CV event is much higher than the risk to develop end-stage renal disease. Although patients with CKD manifest a high prevalence of traditional CV risk factors, this does not fully account for the burden of CV diseases in CKD.