Left ventricular hypertrophy is associated withincreased mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients.Syndecan-4 plays a role in many processes that are involved in the heart fibrosis and hypertrophy.We designed this study to prospectively determine whether syndecan-4 was predictive of mortality in a group of HD patients. The gene discussed is SDC4; the disease is left ventricular hypertrophy.