My friend's dad has an enlarged heart. What does this mean? How bad is it?!


Question: My friend's dad has an enlarged heart!. What does this mean!? How bad is it!?
Answers:
An enlarged heart (Cardiomegaly) comes from the heart having to pump harder in order to deliver blood to the rest of the body!. Since the heart is a muscle it can enlarge like any of the body's other muscles that are subjected to an increased work load!.

How bad it is depends on a lot of different things: are there any other preexisting cardiac conditions or vascular conditions!? Its not always something that is necessarily bad or life threatening; it can be benign!.

Doctor will have to run tests and labs to determine things like how much blood is actually being pumped out of the heart, etc!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

As the name suggests, enlarged heart is an increase in the size of the heart!. It's detected by physical examination, X-ray or other imaging tests!.
An enlarged heart may be caused by a thickening of the heart muscle because of increased workload!. (This increased workload can be due to heart valve disease or high blood pressure, for example!.) This is called hypertrophy (hi-PER'tro-fe), which refers to enlargement of an organ or tissue due to an increase in cell size!.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is the medical term for enlargement of the left ventricle!. (The left ventricle is the heart's main pumping chamber!.) Hypertrophy also occurs in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (hi"per-TRO'fik kar"de-o-mi-OP'ah-the)!. Enlarged heart may also be a dilation (expansion) of the heart due to damage that weakens the heart muscle!. Examples include heart attack, congestive heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy!. (Cardiomyopathy is a serious disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn't work as well as it should!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

When the heart is enlarged, it is harder to pump blood around the body!. A person with this condition will have to rest more and will be unable to do things like hiking/running very easily!.

Over time, this can become a serious, life-threatening problem!. His cardiologist will have discussed why it is enlarged and whether there is any treatment that can help!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

I'm not sure!. From my understanding, as stupid as this can sound, he was probably an athlete, so his body needed more blood for the aerobic activity!. I think, from my guess, it is only as bad as how the blood reacts in that area!. Maybe since the heart is larger his blood might sometimes get thick and he basically needs to get on medication to prevent this!. But all those athletes on tv I FEEL ALL OF THEM have enlarged hearts, but when they say it's a problem, maybe the athlete or person needs to take blood thinners!. But i'm not sure don't quote me on it!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

With an enlarged heart, generally it is weaker and being stretched out, it doesn't pump blood as efficiently!. It could range anywhere from slight to extreme!. I've had alot of patients with it that really don't have many symptoms!. Some just get short of breath!. His doctor should be able to give him an idea of how bad it is!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

i'll tell you to pray for him!. My friends dad died of an enlarged heart!. He was in his 40's and played bball for the NBA!.He was certainly in good health!. i hate to discourage you b/c i don't know if there's a difference but that can be really bad!. Pray!.!.!. and i will toWww@Answer-Health@Com

this goes along with what Terry said, it all depends on what is causing the heart to be enlarged, whether it is treatable, whether it is getting worse, so on so forth!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

it means he's really nice!:) jk, but I thik he might prone to getting heart attacks!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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