Is an enlarged heart hereditary or genetic?

[kalamity42]

My sister died recently from an undiagnosed enlarged heart at 49.  My mum who is 74 has just been diagnosed with cancer and they discovered that she too has an enlarged heart.  My sister was born with a heart murmur but suffered no ill effects through her life and my mum has a  history of heart attacks and strokes and is taking medication for high blood pressure.  I understand these factors would have contributed to their illness.  But what I don't know is if this condition is hereditary?

[kenkeith]

Sorry to hear of your sister's demise at the time to be in the prime of life. An enlarged heart is not a disease but a sign of an underlying problem. It can have many causes and I have the list:

* High blood pressure
* Heart valve disorders
* Weakness of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
* Severe anemia
* Thyroid disorders
* Excessive iron in the body (hemochromatosis)
* Abnormal protein buildup in an organ (amyloidosis)

Heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, anything that increases strain may cause an enlarged heart, but it is more likely your sister died from a heart attack or something similar.  Often an enlarged heart will deform the pathways for electrical impulses to conduct around the ventricles to contract the heart muscle to pump blood into circulation.  The result would have been electrical impulses had become disorganized and that would upset the normal heart rhythm causing cardiac arrest.

The underly cause can be congenital such as a heart valve problem, and there can be hereditory factors that can be the underlying cause such high blood pressure.
___________________________
John Hopkins: Cancer is a genetic disease which means that it is caused by changes (mutations) in DNA. These changes can be inherited (we are born with them) or they can be acquired (they develop after we are born). The inherited changes explain why cancer runs in some families, and the acquired changes can be the result of either bad luck during cell replication or by exposure to carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) such as those found in cigarette smoke.

Hope this helps give you an insight into conditions that concern you.  If there is a genetic predisposition, it is important to avoid any risks that one can control.
Thanks for sharing, and if you have any further questions you are welcome to respond.  Take care.

[kalamity42]

If my sister did have high blood pressure, it was a condition she was unaware of.  She certainly did not mention to anyone that she was feeling unwell or needed to visit her doctor.

Thank you for your response but I was not asking if high blood pressure is genetic/inherited, I already knew the answer to that, but specifically it was regarding an enlarged heart.

But I have now made an appointment to have myself checked out.

Thank you

[ed34]

"Is an enlarged heart hereditary or genetic?"

Hereditary and genetic are really the same thing, you inherit your genes whatever they may produce in defects/benefits/illnesses etc through your parents genes.
High blood pressure can definitely cause an enlarged heart and I'm sorry to hear about your sister, very sorry indeed. Many people with enlarged hearts feel no symptoms at all and so they are not diagnosed. I would have thought there would have been some other factor to pick up on, such as high blood pressure?
To answer your question though, yes tendancy for high blood pressure can be genetic and inherited through your parents. They are discovering new things all the time with high blood pressure and it was difficult to diagnose a cause for many people, but now they know the brain plays an important role and its exact function is under a lot of research.