Backgrounds: Diastolic dysfunction is a common finding in primary hypertensive patients.We presumed that systolic dysfunction may appear at the same time in hypertensive patients with diastolic dysfunction and normal ejection fraction, and test this hypothesis with three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D STE).Methods: Twenty-eight hypertensive volunteers (HTN group) and the same number age, gender-matched controls (CON group) underwent standard echocardiography, tissue Doppler (TD) imaging, 2D strain imaging and 3D STE.