Altogether 122 persons underwent echocardiographic studies. All the persons examined were distributed into 5 groups: group 1 comprised healthy persons without hereditary aggravation as regards essential hypertension (EH); group 2 included healthy persons with aggravated heredity as regards EH; group 3 was made up of persons with borderline arterial hypertension; group 4 of persons with labile EH; group 5 of persons with stable EH. Early appearance of the signs of left ventricular hypertrophy was recorded in persons with hereditary aggravation as regards EH. The changes were particularly remarkable in aggravated heredity as regards both parents or mother. The patients with stable EH demonstrated, in addition to an increase of the mass of the left ventricle, enlargement of the cavity of the left atrium and the width of the aorta.