Which means the shadow of the heart is expanded in diameter. Enlarged heart. Causes of left atrial hypertrophy and treatment for an enlarged heart

Causes of heart enlargement

● The weight of a man's heart weighs approximately 330 grams, while that of a woman is slightly less - 253 grams. An increase in the size of the heart in both men and women occurs either due to the expansion of its cavities, or due to the growth of the heart muscle (myocardial hypertrophy). Today there is a whole list of diseases that contribute to the expansion (or dilatation) of the heart. One of such diseases as the most classic is hypertension. The mechanism of expansion of the heart in hypertension is as follows: narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels leads to an increase in pressure on the heart, an additional load on pumping blood falls on it, the muscles of the heart become more tense, therefore, increase in size.

● Among the diseases leading to heart enlargement is inflammation of the heart muscle - cardiopathy. This happens as a complication after untreated scarlet fever or sore throat. These diseases drain the muscles of the heart, they become flabby, and the cavities of the heart (its ventricles) expand. Expansion of the heart (dilatation) is manifested by the following clinical symptoms: edema, mainly on the legs, shortness of breath on exertion, palpitations (tachycardia), cardiac arrhythmias (arrhythmias).

● The main causes of dilated heart disease: excessive consumption of food and drink, in particular alcoholic beverages. Constant stress and nervous overload, physical overwork.

General preventive measures for the healing of heart enlargement

● It is imperative that you stop drinking alcohol forever. Many people think that alcohol mainly affects the liver, but this is not so: due to the toxic effect on the heart muscle (myocardium), the work of the heart is generally disrupted and ultimately leads to its expansion. Compliance with certain dietary restrictions is equally important.

Animal fats with a high cholesterol content, excess carbohydrates should be excluded from the daily diet; introduce flaxseed, olive, corn, soybean oil, fish products into the diet (at least twice a week). Fresh vegetables and fruits, apricots, quince, cantaloupe, plums, eggplants, peaches, cucumbers, cabbage, cranberries, viburnum, walnuts, dried apricots, figs, apples, pomegranates, are products necessary to maintain normal heart muscle function.

● Reduce salt intake to 2 grams per day, and liquids to 1-1.2 liters, this applies to those patients who have a tendency to edema. You can quench your thirst by drinking valerian or mint tea. You can prepare valerian tea in this way: pour 2 teaspoons of chopped valerian roots 250 ml. cold water and let it brew for 10-12 hours, stirring occasionally. Drink this infusion (tea) three times a day for a whole glass. And mint tea is easier to prepare: 200 ml. boiling water 1 tsp. dry mint leaves, leave for 15-20 minutes in a tightly closed teapot, and you're done! You can add sugar or honey to taste.

● Compliance with the above recommendations will not only improve the work of your heart, but also lose extra pounds, thereby reducing the load on the heart muscle. However, if you choose to continue to break your diet and drink, dilatation (enlargement of the heart) will lead to blood clots (blood clots). There have been cases when such a thrombus breaks off and enters the lungs with the blood flow, causing pulmonary embolism with a lethal outcome (instant death) of the patient.

Folk recipes for treating enlarged heart

● Grind and mix equal parts (50 grams each) of birch buds, St. John's wort, hawthorn, chamomile and immortelle flowers. Pour a tablespoon of the mixture with a glass of boiling water and simmer in a water bath for 15 minutes, cool for one hour and strain. Take ¼ cup three times daily before meals for 1-1.5 months. Carry out 4-5 courses of treatment at intervals of 10-15 days. Prepare the next two recipes in exactly the same way and take it according to the same scheme (so as not to repeat yourself).

● Stir, pre-grind, 50 g each. buckthorn bark, columns of corn stigmas, chamomile flowers, motherwort and string herb, lingonberry leaves.

● Grind and stir 250 gr. St. John's wort herbs, 200 gr. yarrow herbs and 50 gr. arnica flowers.

● Grind and mix 25 g each. fennel and caraway seeds, motherwort herb, roots and rhizomes of Valerian officinalis. Pour a tablespoon of the mixture with 200 ml. boiling water, cook for 15 minutes and leave for 45 minutes. After cooling and straining, add boiled water to the original volume and drink ¼ cup three times a day before meals for one month.

● Grind and mix 200 g each. rhizomes of Valerian officinalis and fruits of common fennel, 100 grams of motherwort and fruits of blood-red hawthorn. Pour a glass of boiling water over 1 tbsp. l. mixture and cook in a water bath for 15 minutes, leave for two hours. After straining, bring the volume back to the original. Drink ¼ cup three times a day for a month after meals. After three months, repeat the course.

Proven recipes for treating heart disease

● Prepare two formulations. The first consists of a mixture (0.5 kg) of May flower honey and 0.5 l. 40-degree vodka. Warm the mixture over low heat until a milky film is obtained, then, removing from heat, let stand. The second composition: take one liter of water that has stood for a day and boil it over (take water from the top surface of the bucket). Pour the medicinal mixture of herbs taken in one teaspoon with this boiling water: crushed root of valerian officinalis, knotweed (bird knotweed), chamomile, marsh and motherwort. Insist half an hour and strain through several layers of gauze.

● Mix the first compound with the second. The medicine will be ready after 5-7 days of storage in a cool dark place. To be treated as follows: 1st week - a teaspoon twice a day; the second week until the end - a tablespoon with the same frequency. When the medication runs out, take a 10-day break and prepare a new batch. Thus, you need to be treated for a whole year. There are many reviews about the effectiveness of the prescription from patients who were in hospital for a long time without the desired result and only after alternative treatment did they feel relief. The proposed remedy eliminates pain in the heart, treats angina pectoris, atherosclerosis, hypertension, arrhythmia and ischemia. Moreover, the legs cease to "give way".

Be healthy and may the Lord God help you in this!

If, after a planned preventive examination of the chest, you found out that the heart was enlarged on fluorography, then do not panic in advance, but go to the consultation with a cardiologist and try to understand the reasons for the modification of the most important organ for a person.

There may be several reasons for what happened. Some of them indicate the presence of serious diseases in the body, so the results of fluorography should be taken seriously.

The weight of the heart of an average man is 332 grams, of a woman - 253. It is considered normal if the weight of the organ varies within these limits.

As for the size, it is customary to correlate them with a person's fist. In order for the organ to function normally, it is very important that all its parts (atria, ventricles) are normal, or rather, the thickness of their walls, length and width in general.

What to do if fluorography (X-ray, ultrasound) showed that the heart is enlarged, expanded?

How dangerous is it to have a big heart in the literal sense of the word? And as a result of what the organ can grow? Let's figure it out in order.

The most important reasons for the fact that the heart is more than normal in the fluorography picture include:

great physical activity;
disease.

People who are engaged in heavy physical labor on a daily basis, as well as professional athletes, also have a heart that works in an enhanced mode: it is forced to beat more often and distill blood faster.

This leads to the fact that the cells of the heart muscle often become larger, they grow. As a result, the weight of the organ and its size increase.

If physical activity in the future will be moderate, the heart enlarged for this reason does not carry health risks.

If a person exposes his body to excessive loads for a long time, then a pathology such as a hypertrophied heart may develop, which is already fraught with serious complications and even life-threatening.

Diseases of the cardiovascular system (coronary artery disease: for example, hypertension, coronary artery disease) and the heart itself (viral, inflammatory diseases), as well as heart defects, can become the reason that the heart is enlarged in size.

So, in the case of a defect and the inability of the organ to function normally in order to properly supply the entire body with blood, the organ can grow.

Coronary disease

Hypertension is the most common cause of heart enlargement.

This is explained by the fact that due to increased blood pressure, the organ is forced to pump large volumes of it, to work in an enhanced mode.

This leads to the fact that the muscles of the heart increase, and the organ itself expands.

If a person has ischemia, the cells of the heart muscle constantly receive less nutrients, as a result of which they degenerate, and connective tissue appears in their place.

The latter, unlike muscle tissue, is not capable of contraction, as a result of this, the organ cavities are deformed, increasing in size.

What to do if the X-ray image showed that the organ is enlarged, and the reason for this phenomenon is diseases of the cardiovascular system?

The answer to this question is simple and obvious - to treat the root cause and return the organ to normal limits.

If a patient is diagnosed with hypertension, he is usually prescribed pharmaceutical drugs that reduce blood pressure. The latter contributes to the restoration of the normal size of the organ.

It is imperative to take medications for a patient with hypertension or ischemic disease who has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart.

The fact is that, despite the increased size of the organ, the large heart performs its most important function - pumping blood, much worse, which means that the organs and systems of a person do not receive the nutrients they need - heart failure develops, the whole body suffers.

That is, the return of the organ to its normal size allows you to prevent heart failure, which in some cases can simply save a person's life.

Non-coronary diseases

Another fairly common cause of an enlarged heart is inflammation that affects muscle tissue (carditis), primarily rheumatic heart disease.

So, if a person has had a hard time suffering such infectious diseases as tonsillitis or scarlet fever, complications (rheumatism) can also affect the most important organ that distills blood.

In this case, the muscle loses its elasticity, and the ventricles are overstretched, as a result of which the size of the organ can increase several times, and its functionality, accordingly, decreases several times.

In this regard, timely treatment of rheumatic heart disease is very important. To date, drugs have been developed that allow you to completely eliminate streptococcal infections and prevent overstretching of the heart.

If therapy is not followed, the person may die. In addition, being a carrier of streptococcus, the patient infects others.

Endocarditis is an inflammatory disease that affects the inner cavity of the heart and its valves.

Endocarditis in its advanced stage causes the expansion of the organ, loss of muscle elasticity and the ability to contract. The disease requires immediate treatment.

Myocarditis is a consequence of viral infections, accompanied by arrhythmia and shortness of breath, possibly the appearance of heart failure.
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In this regard, a patient with myocarditis needs immediate medical attention and supportive therapy.

The constant use of alcohol can cause cardiomyopathy and heart dystrophy, as a result of which the heart cavities expand and the heart rate changes significantly.

Also, patients with alcoholism, as a rule, have high blood pressure - another factor contributing to the modification of the heart muscle.

If a person recovers from alcoholism and stops drinking alcohol, and in the presence of hypertension, he takes pressure-reducing drugs, after a while the organ will restore its normal size.

Thus, if an increase in the size of the heart is detected in the fluorography picture, you should immediately contact a specialist, find out the cause of the pathological changes and, if necessary, start therapy: the problem can be solved in most cases.

In their practice, doctors often encounter people with heart disease. More often this applies to elderly or senile patients. In some cases, heart pathologies are also found in the working-age population. Newborn babies who have acquired defects in the prenatal period are no exception. One of the symptoms of such pathologies is an enlarged heart. This symptom is common in many cardiac diseases. An increase in the heart muscle usually indicates a long-term current pathology that led to CHF.

Cardiomegaly - what is it?

Normally, the size of the heart is individual for everyone. They depend on the complexion of a person, gender, age. It is believed that the size of the organ is approximately equal to the size of a palm clenched into a fist. Nevertheless, there are limits that separate the norm from the pathology. An enlarged heart is called cardiomegaly. It can be detected both by physical examination and by instrumental diagnostics. In most cases, the ventricle of the heart is enlarged, mainly the left one. Less commonly, cardiomegaly occurs at the expense of the right departments. The enlargement of the organ appears due to the layer, as well as due to the stretching of the myocardium (dilatation). This phenomenon rarely occurs in a short time. Cardiomegaly is usually preceded by a long-term chronic illness.

Enlarged heart: causes of pathology

Cardiomegaly can occur for a variety of reasons. It depends on the patient's age, hereditary predisposition, body weight and lifestyle. Sometimes an enlarged heart is considered a normal variant. In this case, cardiomegaly should be moderate. Such cases include constant physical activity, pregnancy, rarely adolescence. A significant increase in the size of the heart in this category of people is also a pathology. The following causes of cardiomegaly are distinguished:

Congenital malformations (CHD). They are formed during pregnancy and can be of various sizes. With large or associated defects, heart failure occurs quickly. In this case, cardiomegaly can manifest itself in the first months of a child's life. If the defects are insignificant, the enlargement of the heart occurs gradually, sometimes it does not occur at all.
Inflammatory diseases. These include myo-, endo- and pericarditis. Most often, these pathologies occur in childhood and adolescence. Cardiomegaly is observed only if the disease has become chronic. This group also includes dilated myopathy.
Acquired heart defects. Formed in adulthood. Most often they are a consequence of rheumatism.
Chronic cardiovascular pathology. These include myocardial ischemia (heart attack, angina pectoris), arterial hypertension.
Among them are bronchial asthma, COPD.
Pathologies of other organs and systems. An enlarged heart can be observed with severe anemia, renal and hepatic failure, hyperthyroidism.
(obesity combined with diabetes mellitus).

The mechanism of development of cardiomegaly

The pathogenesis of cardiomegaly depends on the cause. Most often occurs in people with metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease or arterial hypertension. With a low supply of oxygen, the heart muscle contracts more than usual, and gradually increases in size. Roughly the same thing happens with hypertension. In this case, the heart does not have time to pump blood fast enough due to its high pressure, so the organ requires more effort. The mechanism of development of cardiomegaly differs in stenosis and valve insufficiency. In the case of these pathologies, blood does not completely enter the adjacent chamber or vessel (aorta, pulmonary artery) and causes stretching of one of the parts of the heart. With long-standing defects, both the ventricle and the atrium increase. In some cases, hypertrophy of the entire organ may occur. occurs with pulmonary pathologies, liver diseases.

Symptoms of an enlarged heart

Symptoms of an enlarged heart can be expressed in varying degrees. With hypertrophy, patients complain of shortness of breath. Attacks of shortness of breath occur during exercise, lifting weights, fast and long walking. With severe cardiomegaly, dyspnea may be present at rest. In addition, some patients present. Most often, fluid accumulates in the lower third of the legs in the evening. If the cause of CHF is ischemia, patients are worried about pain in the heart region. Also, the clinical picture depends on the cause of the cardiomegaly. In case of pulmonary pathologies, cough and choking are added to the listed symptoms. Hepatic failure is characterized by massive edema (ascites, anasarca), swelling of the cervical veins. Elderly people with an enlarged heart often have hypertension.

How is cardiomegaly diagnosed?

There is insufficient history to detect cardiomegaly. For this, it is necessary to carry out palpation and organ percussion. When the heart beats, it becomes clear to the doctor whether its size is within the norm or beyond its boundaries. In addition, a chest x-ray is performed. With cardiomegaly, the outline of the organ in the pictures is enlarged. To determine in which departments hypertrophy is observed, an ECG is performed. Thanks to this study, it is possible to find out about the cause of the disease (ischemia, lung pathology). EchoCG (ultrasound of the heart) is considered the most accurate for diagnosis. It allows you to determine the thickness of the myocardium in each chamber, the size of the cavities, the presence of dilatation.

Enlarged heart treatment

When this symptom is detected, patients wonder what to do if the heart is enlarged. Treatment should be started only after a complete examination and clarification of the reasons. If necessary, bronchodilators, antihypertensive, diuretics are prescribed. In some cases, a combination of these funds is required. Regardless of the cause, it is important to take medications to suppress heart failure. These include drugs "Coronal", "Propronalol", "Captopril", etc. In the case of severe heart defects, surgical treatment is necessary. It is also prescribed for persistent ischemia and acute circulatory failure.

Enlarged heart: consequences of the disease

Unfortunately, heart failure rarely goes away completely, as it is a chronic, progressive disease. With inadequate or no therapy, the consequences can be serious. In the case of severe cardiomegaly, the patient constantly lacks air, as a result of which all organs suffer. Also, the disease can lead to myocardial infarction, stroke, thromboembolism of the heart or pulmonary vessels.

The main reason that the heart is expanded in diameter is the stagnation of blood in the ventricles due to its incomplete release in the contraction phase.

Any organ has a certain size and the heart is no exception; in different healthy people, they vary within the permissible normal values. Most of the clinical cases are left ventricular hypertrophy, which indicates the development of pathology associated with impaired functioning of the cardiovascular system.

The heart, like any other organ, has its own size. The doctor may suspect the expansion of the boundaries of the heart when examining the patient. In this case, auscultatory tone at the apex of the heart will be heard somewhat to the left and lower than normal. Also, a change in the boundaries of the heart can be seen on an x-ray of the lungs.

One group of diseases is associated with the pathology of the cardiovascular system.

But not all of the blood volume is ejected from the ventricles into the atria, and a small residual blood volume remains.

With constant overstretching of the chambers of the heart, the walls are depleted. A condition such as ventricular hypertrophy occurs. In clinical practice, left ventricular hypertrophy is most common. This symptom occurs in all cardiac pathologies associated with impaired activity of the heart and blood vessels.

Is the heart enlarged in diameter due to the left ventricle?

A small part of it, due to incomplete closure of the valve cusps, returns back to the ventricles. In the cavities of the ventricles, a small volume of blood remains again, to which a new portion is added.

An increase in the size of the heart in the transverse direction due to constant stagnation of blood is often the cause of death of patients from pulmonary embolism. Morphological and functional changes in the heart with various types of acquired defects are primarily due to the peculiarities of hemodynamic disturbances.

All this predetermines the diversity of the X-ray picture in different forms and phases of development of acquired heart defects.

Enlarged heart treatment

It is characterized by a retrograde throwing of blood into the left atrium and, at the same time, the flow of more than normal amounts of it into the left ventricle. As the process develops further, hypertrophy and dilation of the left ventricle occurs, which increases, and its arc lengthens, rounds and pulsates intensely.

In 1 oblique position, bulging posteriorly (into the retrocardial space) of the left atrial arch and its increased pulsation (the so-called "systolic expansion") is especially characteristic. In the second oblique position, the retrocardial space is narrowed due to the enlarged left sections - the left atrium and the left ventricle.

There is a triangular configuration of the cardiovascular shadow typical of mitral insufficiency, mainly due to the expansion of the right and left ventricles. At the same time, hypertrophy occurs, and then dilation of the right ventricle, due to which the heart rotates somewhat around the longitudinal axis from left to right and takes a more vertical position.

At the same time, the left ventricle, which receives less blood than usual, maintains its normal size, and sometimes even decreases slightly and pulsates weakly.

Anatomically, the human heart consists of four chambers: two atria (right and left) and, accordingly, two ventricles. With percussion, the displacement of the boundaries of the heart is determined.

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Cardiomegaly - what is it?

Normally, the size of the heart is individual for everyone. They depend on the complexion of a person, gender, age. It is believed that the size of the organ is approximately equal to the size of a palm clenched into a fist. Nevertheless, there are limits that separate the norm from the pathology. An enlarged heart is called cardiomegaly. It can be detected both by physical examination and by instrumental diagnostics. In most cases, the ventricle of the heart is enlarged, mainly the left one. Less commonly, cardiomegaly occurs at the expense of the right departments. The enlargement of the organ appears due to hypertrophy of the muscle layer, as well as due to stretching of the myocardium (dilatation). This phenomenon rarely occurs in a short time. Cardiomegaly is usually preceded by a long-term chronic illness.

Enlarged heart: causes of pathology

Congenital malformations (CHD). They are formed during pregnancy and can be of various sizes. With large or associated defects, heart failure occurs quickly. In this case, cardiomegaly can manifest itself in the first months of a child's life. If the defects are insignificant, the enlargement of the heart occurs gradually, sometimes it does not occur at all.
Inflammatory diseases. These include myo-, endo- and pericarditis. Most often, these pathologies occur in childhood and adolescence. Cardiomegaly is observed only if the disease has become chronic. This group also includes dilated myopathy.
Acquired heart defects. Formed in adulthood. Most often they are a consequence of rheumatism.
Chronic cardiovascular pathology. These include myocardial ischemia (heart attack, angina pectoris), arterial hypertension.
Chronic lung disease. Among them are bronchial asthma, COPD.
Pathologies of other organs and systems. An enlarged heart can be observed with severe anemia, renal and hepatic failure, hyperthyroidism.
Metabolic syndrome (obesity combined with diabetes mellitus).

The mechanism of development of cardiomegaly

The pathogenesis of cardiomegaly depends on the cause. Most often, left ventricular hypertrophy occurs in people with metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, or arterial hypertension.

and a low supply of oxygen, the heart muscle contracts more than usual, and gradually increases in size. Roughly the same thing happens with hypertension. In this case, the heart does not have time to pump blood fast enough due to its high pressure, so the organ requires more effort. The mechanism of development of cardiomegaly differs in stenosis and valve insufficiency. In the case of these pathologies, blood does not completely enter the adjacent chamber or vessel (aorta, pulmonary artery) and causes stretching of one of the parts of the heart. With long-standing defects, both the ventricle and the atrium increase. In some cases, hypertrophy of the entire organ may occur. Right ventricular failure occurs with pulmonary pathologies, liver diseases.

Symptoms of an enlarged heart

Symptoms of an enlarged heart can be expressed in varying degrees. With left ventricular hypertrophy, patients complain of shortness of breath. Attacks of shortness of breath occur during exercise, lifting weights, fast and long walking. With severe cardiomegaly, dyspnea may be present at rest. In addition, some patients have edema syndrome. Most often, fluid accumulates in the lower third of the legs in the evening. If the cause of CHF is ischemia, patients are worried about pain in the heart region. Also, the clinical picture depends on the cause of the cardiomegaly. In case of pulmonary pathologies, cough and choking are added to the listed symptoms. Hepatic failure is characterized by massive edema (ascites, anasarca), swelling of the cervical veins. Elderly people with an enlarged heart often have hypertension.

How is cardiomegaly diagnosed?

Enlarged heart treatment

When this symptom is detected, patients wonder what to do if the heart is enlarged.

it is necessary to begin the study only after a complete examination and clarification of the reasons. If necessary, bronchodilators, antihypertensive, diuretics are prescribed. In some cases, a combination of these funds is required. Regardless of the cause, it is important to take medications to suppress heart failure. These include drugs "Coronal", "Propronalol", "Captopril", etc. In the case of severe heart defects, surgical treatment is necessary. It is also prescribed for persistent ischemia and acute circulatory failure.

Enlarged heart: consequences of the disease

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Cardiomegaly or an enlarged heart?

Hundreds of thousands of citizens die from cardiovascular pathologies in the world every year. In most cases, the reason for this is an untimely visit to a doctor and a deterioration in the state of cardiac activity.

The enlargement of the organ is associated with the development of ventricular hypertrophy, the accumulation of metabolic products and neoplastic processes. Cardiomegaly often occurs in healthy people, including athletes and pregnant women.

The volume of the heart of each person varies within different limits. If we talk about sex differences, then in men this organ is larger than in women. So for the age category from 20 to 30 years old, the approximate volume of the heart will be the following values:

women - 580 cm3;
men - 760 cm3.

Also, this figure depends on body weight. It is necessary to diagnose cardiomegaly only after a thorough examination, because in some cases a small enlarged heart is the norm, which is strictly individual for each person.

Expansion of the right or left ventricle: causes

An enlargement of the walls of the right or left ventricle is called hypertrophy. In this case, a violation of the functioning of the myocardium occurs and, as a consequence, their functional activity deteriorates. Depending on the localization of the depletion of the heart muscle, a different etiology is also distinguished.

Right ventricular hypertrophy

The enlargement of the walls of the right ventricle is most often observed in children with congenital defects of intrauterine development. Also, one of the main reasons is associated with an increase in pressure in the pulmonary circulation and the discharge of blood into the right ventricle. In this case, there is an increase in the load of the right ventricle.

In adults, right ventricular hypertrophy is more likely to be caused by diseases that interfere with normal breathing. This includes the following pathologies:

rachiocampsis;
diseases of the pulmonary vessels (compression, embolism, thrombosis, etc.);
bronchial asthma;
tuberculosis;
bronchiectasis;
Chronical bronchitis;
polio, etc.

Left ventricular hypertrophy

Left ventricular hypertrophy is dangerous because of sudden cardiac arrest, the cause of myocardial infarction and death. Thickening of the walls of the left ventricle can be the result of such cardiac pathologies:

developing atherosclerosis of the aorta;
hypertonic disease;
congenital or acquired heart defects;
obesity.

In order to prevent the development of such serious diseases, you need to follow preventive measures, which means adhere to a healthy lifestyle and be monitored by a doctor in order to diagnose all violations in a timely manner.

Causes of cardiomegaly

Most often, an enlarged heart in diameter is diagnosed in adults. The predisposing factors that contribute to the expansion of the boundaries of the shadow of the ventricles and atria are quite diverse, in most cases it is associated with cardiovascular pathologies. So, the following reasons can be attributed to the etiology of the appearance of cardiomegaly:

excessive exercise;
pregnancy;
idiopathic cardiomyopathy;
heart defects;
severe anemia;
infectious diseases, where the target organ is the heart muscle;
complications after viral diseases;
ischemia or myocardial infarction;
inflammatory processes in the heart;
strong stress loads;
excessive alcohol consumption, drug dependence, smoking;
kidney disease and kidney failure;
rheumatic heart disease and endocarditis;
hypertension, etc.

If an increase in the heart muscle is detected, the doctor prescribes the necessary diagnostics and treatment.

Clinical manifestations

With the expansion of the heart in diameter or in other parts of the patient may experience unpleasant symptoms. This includes the following clinical severity:

increased fatigue;
shortness of breath at rest or with minor physical exertion;
increased blood pressure;
the appearance of pain in the heart;
the formation of edema in the lower extremities;
headaches and dizziness;
short-term loss of consciousness.

Other signs characteristic of a particular cardiac pathology, if any, may also join.

Treatment

During treatment, it is important to identify the focus, which means to determine the disease or disorder that triggered the onset of heart enlargement. As soon as this is diagnosed, treatment is prescribed to eliminate this pathology.

As an auxiliary therapy, medications are prescribed, the purpose of which is to reduce the obstacle to the normal outflow of blood while unloading the increased work of the ventricles. This will prevent the risk of complications such as myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, shortness of breath and arrhythmias.

If the therapeutic action is ineffective, the doctor may prescribe surgery to improve blood flow. However, they resort to it only in extreme cases.

You should stop drinking alcoholic beverages that have a toxic effect on the myocardium (heart muscle).
In order to prevent the deposition of cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels, foods high in cholesterol should be excluded from the daily diet. It is advisable to use fish, olive, flaxseed, corn and soybean oil at least 2 times a week.
To strengthen and maintain the heart muscle in normal working condition, it is useful to include viburnum, cranberries, cabbage, eggplants, peaches, dried apricots, apples, pomegranates, walnuts, melons, etc. in the daily diet.
It is necessary to reduce salt intake to at least 2 grams. per day, especially for patients with increased edema.
With fixed obesity, it is necessary to formulate a correct balanced diet aimed at eliminating extra pounds.
Sleep for at least 8 hours, do not overwork physically and emotionally.
Walk in the fresh air more often.

Expansion of the heart is not a diagnosis, but only a temporary condition of the heart muscle. With correct and timely action, you can get rid of this violation and significantly alleviate your condition.

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Diseases in which there is a change in the boundaries of the heart

There are three groups of diseases, one of the symptoms of which is that the heart is enlarged in diameter:

Diseases associated with pathologies of the organs of the cardiovascular system:
- Ischemic heart disease (ischemic disease);
- Any degree of hypertension (hypertension);
- Congenital malformations;
- The development of chronic cardiovascular failure.
Extracardiac pathologies:
- Chronic liver disease - hepatitis and cirrhosis;
- Diseases of the thyroid gland;
- Dysfunction of hematopoiesis;
- Development of pulmonary failure.
Recently, a change in the boundaries of the heart is often observed due to foreign objects (parts of wires and stents) located inside the venous shunts and arteries of the heart (coronary). Instruments have been developed for the removal of foreign bodies by a non-operative method.

When the doctor, examining the heart during echocardiography, sees approximately such indicators, he notes that the size of the heart and its mass are normal. But often the numerical characteristics of the mass and length of the internal "motor" in a particular person are too high - this means an increase in the heart or cardiomegaly.

1 How does the heart enlarge?

Due to certain circumstances, which we will talk about later, the heart begins to experience increased stress. It should be noted that this organ is mostly represented by the heart muscle or myocardium. And what happens to a muscle if it is systematically loaded? It will increase in size due to the increase in mass, won't it? And the heart is no exception. Starting to work more intensively, pumping blood more than it should be, the myocardium compensatory increases in size - it thickens. We can say that the myocardium "gets fat", gains weight.

Hypertrophy develops. But compensatory possibilities are not unlimited, and there comes a point when they dry up. Muscles lose strength and tone, the myocardium becomes flabby, the walls stretch, dilatation develops - expansion of the cardiac cavities. In this case, the heart is also enlarged, but not due to the increase in mass, but due to the stretching of its chambers. Thus, the main mechanisms of heart enlargement are:

hypertrophy,
dilatation.

Depending on the reasons that caused cardiomegaly, these processes can successively replace each other, or occur individually, independently of one. The increase can affect both all cardiac departments, and some isolated ones. Consider the main reasons for which the heart departments or the entire organ as a whole reaches large sizes.

2 Why are left-wing departments growing?

The left ventricle and atrium are connected to each other through a bicuspid valve. Accordingly, damage to this valve can cause an increase in the left sections. Valvular mitral pathology can be congenital, narrowing or insufficiency can develop again. Also, left ventricular enlargement is often found with such as aortic stenosis, most often it is a congenital malformation. Recall that the aorta is the main outflow vessel from the left ventricle.

But the reason number 1 in the frequency of occurrence of an increase in the left ventricle is "Her Majesty" arterial hypertension! High blood pressure in hypertensive patients with experience deforms the cardiac sections: first the left ventricle, then the atrium. Obesity and excess weight also negatively affect the aforementioned cardiac chambers. It is worth noting a hereditary factor in the development of left ventricular hypertrophy - inherited forms of hypertrophic, dilated cardiomyopathy.

3 Why are the right-wing departments growing?

A tricuspid valve is located between the right ventricle and the atrium, and the right sections are in close proximity to the lungs. Diseases of the lungs, such as obstructive disease, severe, frequent bronchitis, respiratory failure, increase pressure in the pulmonary circulation, thereby creating an increased load on the right sections, which may lead to their increase. Congenital or acquired insufficiency of the 3-leaf valve, tricuspid insufficiency also causes an isolated enlargement of the right chambers. A separate arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy is distinguished, in the origin of which the hereditary nature of the transmission of the disease plays an important role.

4 Sports heart

A separate category of people who have an increase in all cardiac departments are athletes, as well as people engaged in hard, physical labor. The overwhelming majority of professional athletes develop physiological hypertrophy. Physiological means the norm. It develops compensatory and is aimed at providing the body with a sufficient amount of blood. But there is a fine line between the physiological "sports" heart and the pathological - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of athletes. With continued loads of extreme intensity, a physiologically enlarged heart can "grow" to illness.

Large cardiac dimensions in athletes with developed cardiomyopathy occur due to myocardial overstrain. The heart muscle cannot adapt to increased stress, the needs for oxygen and nutrients do not cover energy costs. The pathologically enlarged "sports" heart is characterized not only by an increase in its quantitative indicators, such as weight and size, but also by a decrease in the stroke volume, impaired filling of the left ventricle, the presence of dizziness, fainting, rhythm disturbances in the patient. These signs indicate the development of the disease.

5 Cardiomyopathies or a thousand and one causes of an enlarged heart

All cardiomyopathies lead to an increase in the size of the heart either due to the mass - hypertrophic, or due to the expansion of the cavities - dilated. The classification of cardiomyopathies is very extensive, there are also a great many reasons for the development of cardiomegaly. Here are the main ones:

heredity and breakdowns in genes,
alcohol, drug abuse,
infectious lesion,
metabolic diseases,
violation of the electrolyte balance in the body,
connective tissue diseases of a systemic nature,
diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism and other diseases of the endocrine system,
exposure to radiation, vibration, high and low temperatures and other physical factors,
hypersensitivity and toxic reactions to drugs.

6 Other heart disorders as a cause of heart enlargement

It should be noted that any heart disease and pathology of the cardiovascular system can lead to an increase in the organ. Myocardial ischemia, hypertension, angina attacks, heart attack - these diseases change the structure and function of the heart. And cardiomegaly is far from the only problem that, alas, is often present in a whole bunch of heart problems.

7 How is life with a big heart?

What does a patient feel with an enlarged heart beating in his chest? In the early stages of the disease, nothing at all. The patient may be disturbed by the symptoms that led to the growth and distension of the myocardium - these are symptoms of the underlying disease. Either there may be no symptoms, the person feels completely healthy, and cardiomegaly is detected by chance, according to ECG signs, during chest x-ray, or after ultrasound diagnostics. When a clinic appears, this may indicate the progression of the disease, the development of heart failure.

Clinical signs of enlarged left sections:

weakness;
dyspnea;
dry cough, possibly blood streaks with viscous sputum;
rhythm disturbances: heart palpitations, extrasystoles, arrhythmias, impulse conduction slowdown;
pain in the chest area of a different nature. Pain sensations can be of varying intensity: from almost imperceptible to pronounced, sharp. The duration of pain also varies: from a second tingling sensation to a long time interval - hours, days.

The clinical picture of the enlarged right sections:

pastiness, swelling of the legs and feet;
swelling of the veins of the neck, their pulsation;
pain under the rib on the right, enlarged liver;
dizziness, fainting;
pain in the heart;
arrhythmias.

The clinic corresponds to the signs of circulatory insufficiency in the small and large circles. If the pathology affects all cardiac chambers, the clinic will be mixed. Do not forget about the symptoms of the primary disease leading to cardiomegaly.

8 Diagnosis and treatment of a large heart

An enlarged heart is not difficult to recognize percussion (when tapping its borders through the chest, the doctor will note their expansion) and through instrumental methods - radiography, echocardiography. EKG changes can also reveal hypertrophy or enlargement. ECG data should always be confirmed by echocardiography at diagnosis. Treatment includes, first of all, elimination of the factors provoking cardiomegaly (cessation of alcohol consumption, intense exercise, exposure to physical factors), as well as treatment of the underlying disease, due to which an enlarged heart was formed for the second time. In the case of congenital defects, surgical treatment is often required.