Enlarged Ventricle?

[Sughrue]

Hey, I recently had a radiological stress test. The only thing they found was that I had an enlarged left ventricle. No one (other than me) seemed disturbed by this.

When I asked them what caused it, they told me high blood pressure. My blood pressure is low/normal. The nurse/tech then asked me if I worked out; when I said yes, she said 'well, that's what caused it then.'

Has anyone else heard of this? Is this something I need to worry about? Haven't yet followed up with my doctor, see him in a month or so.

Sughrue

 

[ultraconsult]

Enlarged LV can occour with anabolic steroid use. Did they tell you how thick the muscle was? You should not have any chamber dilatation from use, but hypertrophy is not uncommon you need to find out waht you septal thickness and LV mas measure.

 

[Sughrue]

I haven't done a real cycle yet (just now getting ready to).... at that point, all I had done was just finish a 4 week 1-ad cycle the week before the stress test. I doubt that was enough to create that kind of hypertrophy in my heart, but who knows...

I appreciate the info, I'll ask my doc those questions.

 

[luciasb]

Enlarged LV can occour with anabolic steroid use. Did they tell you how thick the muscle was? You should not have any chamber dilatation from use, but hypertrophy is not uncommon you need to find out waht you septal thickness and LV mas measure.

Agree with above, weightlifters typically have higher wall thickness that the general population b/c of the work being done, so prolly not that big of a deal. You do need to find out what the thickness, problem is the person making the measurements. I assume they did a stress echocardiogram. Thats where they use ultrasound to look at the Left Ventricle they can take measurements to see if its nl, but often a slight movement will add or subtract a mm or two, so even if its within normal limits, it can be easily overestimated. Normal is 11mm and under, so you just need to find out what the number is. I assume that you dont have some hypertrophic disease b/c they wouldve easily recognized that without making measurements. SO I wouldnt be too worried about it at all.
Enlarged heart usually refers to dilatation or the cavity that fills with blood is enlarged. That can happen in a disease state or it may be large if youre a large person. But sounds like theyre talking about lv hypertrophy.

 

[JibbyJabba]

Geoff Garst is the man you need to talk with...

He's a cardiac perfutionst (sp?) and he seriously knows his shit when it comes to the heart.

Bump for Geoff to respond...

 

[liftsiron]

If no one is concerned you likly have a condition known as "athlete's heart" this condition occurs in runners as well as weight trainers with or without steroids and is not in itself cause for concern.

 

[stealth]

A cariologist said I have thicker walls and an enlarged ventricle. He also said bot to worry. Everything was functioning just fine after a batttery of tests.

 

[liftsiron]

A cariologist said I have thicker walls and an enlarged ventricle. He also said bot to worry. Everything was functioning just fine after a batttery of tests.

This is actually vary common and not a cause for any concern.

 

[argent]

agreed

 

[ultraconsult]

LVH

You need to find out what your LV mass calc was. Also ejection fraction. Athletes heart will show boarderline LVH with good LV function typically low Heart Rate. Any hsitory of Hypertension? There are a large number of physicians without the expertise to manage this.

If it was insignificant find out if they put it in your chart. Cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) diagnosis will make it very hard to get insurance in the future.