To characterize thallium-201 distribution in single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) cardiac images and polar bullseye maps, 100 patients with chronic systemic hypertension due to end-stage renal disease were studied and the results compared with those in 35 normotensive control subjects. Thallium-201 SPECT was performed after exercise in all control subjects and 70 hypertensive patients, and after intravenous dipyridamole in 30 patients. A frequent finding in hypertensive patients was a fixed decrease in the normal lateral-to-septal count density ratio in immediate thallium-201 SPECT images (1.02 +/- 0.10 vs 1.17 +/- 0.08 in control subjects, p less than 0.00001) and in 3-hour delayed images (1.02 +/- 0.11 vs 1.11 +/- 0.08 in control subjects, p less than 0.00001). No significant difference in count density ratio was present in patients undergoing treadmill versus diypridamole intervention. In 35 patients the count density ratio was greater than 2.0 standard deviations below the normal mean, creating the false impression of a fixed lateral defect (i.e., myocardial infarction). In 12 patients, myocardial wall thickness was measured at end-diastole by 2-dimensional echocardiography. Wall thickness was increased (greater than 11 mm) in all patients. The mean lateral-to-septal wall thickness ratio was 1.08 +/- 1.11; in no patient was the ratio less than 0.76 to indicate selective septal hypertrophy. The lateral-to-septal wall thickness and lateral-to-septal thallium-201 count density ratios correlated poorly (r = 0.43).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)