Ventricular hypertrophy
| Ventricular hypertrophy | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | cardiology |
| ICD-10 | I51.7 |
| ICD-9-CM | 429.3 |
Ventricular hypertrophy (VH) is thickening of the walls of a ventricle (lower chamber) of the heart. Although left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is more common, right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) can also occur, as can hypertrophy of both ventricles, that is, biventricular hypertrophy (BVH).
Ventricular hypertrophy can be part of various syndromes caused by any of various underlying diseases. For example, it can be a part of ventricular remodeling in consequence of ischemic heart disease or a component of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the absence of ischemia.
The ventricles are the chambers in the heart responsible for pumping blood either to the lungs (right ventricle) or to the rest of the body (left ventricle).
Healthy cardiac hypertrophy (physiologic hypertrophy or "athlete's heart") is the normal response to healthy exercise or pregnancy, which results in an increase in the heart's muscle mass and pumping ability. Trained athletes have hearts that have left ventricular mass up to 60% greater than untrained subjects. Rowers, cyclists, and cross-country skiers tend to have the largest hearts, with an average left ventricular wall thickness of 1.3 centimeters, compared to 1.1 centimeters in average adults. Heart wall thickness can be measured by ultrasound; computed 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 or disease such as hypertension, heart muscle injury (myocardial infarction), heart failure or neurohormones. Valvular heart disease is another cause of pathological hypertrophy. It has also been suggested that the root cause of many heart ailments is cardiac hypertrophy, which in turn is caused by hypoxia due to atmospheric CO, particulate matter, and peroxyl acyl nitrates, which reduces ATP synthesis in cardiac mitochondria. Pathological hypertrophy also leads to an increase in muscle mass, but the muscle does not increase its pumping ability, and instead accumulates myocardial scarring (collagen). In pathological hypertrophy, the heart can increase its mass by up to 150%.
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