The increase in the number of muscle fibers in the myocardium leads to its general thickening. This is characterized by hypertrophy of the heart - a pathology that is a consequence of a constant increased stress on any parts of the organ, as well as a difficulty in the flow of blood and its subsequent release into the large or small circle of the circulation.
Causes of cardiac hypertrophy
A significant thickening of the heart muscle occurs in the following diseases:
- Congenital or acquired heart defects. Hypertrophy undergoes the corresponding sections of the ventricles and atria.
- Pulmonary heart. As a rule, the walls of the right ventricle thicken.
- Hypertension. The pathology develops both against the background of arterial and renal increase in pressure.
- Cardiomyopathy of the hypertrophic type.
- Ischemic heart disease . Thickening of the myocardium occurs to compensate for the reduced functions of its individual parts.
- Metabolic disorders, in particular obesity.
There is also cardiac hypertrophy in athletes due to border physical exertion. In these cases, the left, the right ventricle thickens.
Signs of cardiac hypertrophy
Specific clinical manifestations of this condition is not, because it is not a disease, but a symptom of pathologies that provoke thickening of the myocardium.
Progression of hypertrophic syndrome often leads to negative consequences:
- reduction in the supply of fibers of the heart muscle with oxygen;
- deterioration of metabolism in myocardial cells;
- violation of the normal rhythm of the heart (arrhythmia).
These complications are accompanied by their own characteristic features:
- pain in the heart;
- clinical manifestations of heart failure;
- destabilization of blood pressure;
- decreased efficiency;
- shortness of breath and breathing disorders;
- impaired kidney function;
- pathology of the vascular system.
Treatment of cardiac hypertrophy
Due to the fact that the described problem is only a consequence of various diseases, first therapy of the underlying diseases is carried out. After eliminating the main causes of hypertrophy, the thickness of the myocardium is usually restored, and its functions are improved.
With the development of heart failure, a cardiologist can individually assign various medications to normalize the functioning of the heart muscles, blood pressure and blood circulation, and decrease the viscosity of the blood.