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| Ventricular hypertrophy Classification and external resources |
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| ICD-10 | I51.7 |
|---|---|
| ICD-9 | 429.3 |
Ventricular hypertrophy is the enlargement of ventricles (lower chambers) in the heart.[1][2] Although left ventricular hypertrophy is more common, enlargement can also occur in the right ventricle, or both ventricles.
Contents |
Physiology
The ventricles are the chambers in the heart responsible for pumping blood either to the lungs (right ventricle)[3] or the rest of the body (left ventricle)[4].
Healthy cardiac hypertrophy (physiologic hypertrophy or "athlete's heart") is the normal response to healthy exercise or pregnancy[5], which results in an increase in the heart's muscle mass and pumping ability. Trained athletes have hearts which have left ventricular mass up to 60% greater than untrained subjects. Rowers, cyclists and cross-country skiers tend to have the largest hearts, with a left ventricular wall thickness of 1.3 centimeters, compared to 1.1 centimeters in normal adults. Heart wall thickness can be measured by ultrasound; computer tomography is more accurate though it is more expensive and has risks of exposure to radiation.
Unhealthy cardiac hypertrophy (pathological hypertrophy) is the response to stress such as hypertension, heart muscle injury (myocardial infarction or neurohormones. Pathological hypertrophy also leads to an increase in muscle mass, but the muscle does not increase its pumping ability, and instead accumulates scar tissue (collagen). In pathological hypertrophy, the heart can increase its mass by up to 150%.
Cardiac hypertrophy is "dramatic and rapid." In the Burmese python, consumption of a large meal is associated with an increase in metabolic work by a factor of seven and a "spectacular" 40% increase in ventricular mass within 48 hours, both of which return to normal within 28 days.[6]
Aerobic training results in the heart being able to pump a larger volume of blood through an increase in the size of the ventricles. Anaerobic training results in the thickening of the myocardial wall to push blood through arteries compressed by muscular contraction.[7] This type of physiologic hypertrophy is reversible and non-pathological, increasing the heart's ability to circulate blood. Chronic hypertension causes pathological ventricular hypertrophy. This response enables the heart to maintain a normal stroke volume despite the increase in afterload. However, over time, pathological changes occur in the heart that lead to a functional degradation and heart failure.[8]
If the precipitating stress is volume overload (as through aerobic exercise, which increases blood return to the heart through the action of the skeletal-muscle pump), the ventricle responds by adding new sarcomeres in-series with existing sarcomeres (i.e. the sarcomeres lengthen rather than thicken). This results in ventricular dilation while maintaining normal sarcomere lengths - the heart can expand to receive a greater volume of blood. The wall thickness normally increases in proportion to the increase in chamber radius. This type of hypertrophy is termed eccentric hypertrophy.[9]
In the case of chronic pressure overload (as through anaerobic exercise, which increases resistance to blood flow by compressing arteries), the chamber radius may not change; however, the wall thickness greatly increases as new sarcomeres are added in-parallel to existing sarcomeres. This is termed concentric hypertrophy.[10] This type of ventricle is capable of generating greater forces and higher pressures, while the increased wall thickness maintains normal wall stress. This type of ventricle becomes "stiff" (i.e., compliance is reduced) which can impair filling and lead to diastolic dysfunction.
References
- ^ Ask the doctor: Left Ventricular Hypertrophy
- ^ http://www.echoincontext.com/int2/skillI2_03.asp Right Ventricular Hypertrophy
- ^ Right ventricle definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms
- ^ Left ventricle definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms
- ^ Control Mechanisms for Physiological Hypertrophy of Pregnancy - Mone et al. 94 (4): 667 - Circulation
- ^ Joseph A. Hill and Eric N. Olson, Cardiac Plasticity, New England Journal of Medicine, March 27, 2008, 358:1370-1380
- ^ McMurray, Robert (1998). Concepts in Fitness Programming. CRC, 320. ISBN 978-0849387142.
- ^ Mechanisms and Models in Heart Failure: The Biomechanical Model and Beyond - Mann and Bristow 111 (21): 2837 - Circulation
- ^ Hypertrophy
- ^ Hypertrophy
See also
External links
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 12 June 2008, at 13:16.
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