Ventricle Hypertrophy

[Bigote05]

I recently had an echocardiogram done.
The final comments were as follows:
*Left Ventricle Hypertrophy
*EF-63%
*Inverted E/A Ratio of the Mitral valve and tissue doppler suggest Grade 1 LV diastolic dysfunction of the relaxation type
*Left Atrial Enlargement (4.3 cm)
*Mild to Moderate Mitral and aortic regurgitation
*Mild Tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation.
As much as I tried to understand the terminology, I can not comprehend the severity of the findings.

Would you mind to comment regarding the findings?
How severe are they?
Your help will be appreciated.
Thank You

[CCFHeartMD 12]

It would be helpful to look at a photo of the heart while we discuss this (example is at http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/heart2.htm)

Left Ventricle Hypertrophy (LVH)-- The LV (aka main pumping chamber of the heart", is thickened compared to normal for your age group.  This might be due to long-standing high blood pressure or chronic exercise or valve dysfunction (likely the first two in your case).  

EF63%: The squeezing/contraction function of your LV is normal to high.  This indicates likely no serious heart muscle disease other than thickening.  

*Inverted E/A... diastolic dysfunction of the relaxation type" - longwinded description of the RELAXATION phase of the LV, during which time blood from lungs fills the LV through the mitral valve.  "Diastolic dysfunction" is a more complex concept than EF to grasp, but essentially it indicates stiffening of the heart muscles due to being too thick (remember the LVH).

Left atrial enlargement (LAE) - this might be due to leakage of the blood from LV back to LA, as well as the diastolic dysfunction.

Mild to Moderate Mitral and aortic regurgitation - Basically leakage of blood from aorta to LV (via aortic valve) and from LV to LA (via mitral valve).  NOT severe but needs attention.  This could be age/genetics-related but also dependent on blood pressure.

*Mild Tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation- mild leakage for the two other valve. NOT important at this point, as they are more passive and are related to lung, LV, LA, and mitral and aortic valves.

So, the central message of your echo is this -- your heart is stiffened and thickened somewhat but still squeezes well.  You have some leakage of MV and AV as well as enlargement of LA.  You do NOT need additional procedures at this point UNLESS you are having additional symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath.  At this point, the biggest gain you could have is to be aggressive about blood pressure control (I recommend an ACE inhibitor agent in particular).  

You should discuss these findings with your doctor as online forum can only help inform you in a limited extent.  If resource allows, you should have yearly followup with a preventive/general cardiologist.  I hope this helps.








*Inverted E/A Ratio of the Mitral valve and tissue doppler suggest Grade 1 LV diastolic dysfunction of the relaxation type *Left Atrial Enlargement (4.3 cm) *Mild to Moderate Mitral and aortic regurgitation *Mild Tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation. As much as I tried to understand the terminology, I can not comprehend the severity of the findings. Would you mind to comment regarding the findings? How severe are they? Your help will be appreciated. Thank You

[Bigote05]

Thank You for your response.
My blood pressure is consistenly low (97/56) and a pulse of 64.
My cardiologist says that low pressure is good for my LV problem, but my nephrologist says that it is too low for proper kidney functions.

What would be the idela pressure to deal with my LV problem?
Thank You