Medicaltalks almost 2 years ago

#NSFWSensitive content 18+

This material contains content which some users might find distrubingSign up to unlock

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart muscle becomes thick, especially of the ventricles (lower heart chambers), which is seen very clearly in this picture. The average left ventricular wall thickness in normal adults is 1.1 cm, but there are exceptions. Trained athletes have hearts that have left ventricular mass up to 60% greater than untrained subjects, with an average left ventricular wall thickness of 1.3 cm.The most common cause is hypertension. As many as 1/3 of patients show left ventricular hypertrophy of any degree along with hypertension. Symptoms include dyspnea (shortness of breath) due to stiffening and decreased blood filling of the ventricles, exertional chest pain (angina) due to reduced or restricted blood flow to the coronary arteries, uncomfortable awareness of a fluttering or pounding heart beat (palpitations) due to the ischemia to the heart muscle, disruption of the electrical system running through the abnormal heart muscle, lightheadedness, fatigue, fainting (called syncope) and sudden cardiac death.Treatment depends on the cause. Athletic hypertrophy does not require any treatment, they're simply advised to stop exercising for a few months to measure their left ventricle again. Hypertensive LVH is treated by controlling the blood pressure with medications and lifestyle changes.