L21. Ventricular Hypertrophy Flashcards
What side of the heart does ventricular hypertrophy affect the most?
The left side
What is the difference between hyperplasia and hypertrophy?
Hyperplasia when cells proliferate and this processes ceases in the heart a few months after birth.
Hypertrophy is wen cells grow and this is normal parallel to growth. This stops after adolescence.
Hypertrophy can be restarted due to pressure demands throughout life.
How is normal hypertrophy controlled and influenced?
Endocrine control: Growth Hormones, IGF, and Thyroxine
What does the normal heart size depend on?
Body size, family history and genetics, athletic conditioning, blood pressure, angiotensin II and catecholamines
What is the mean left ventricular mass in young healthy adults?
160 g
How are the dimensions of the left ventricle normally measured?
Echocardiography or MRI
What is meant by cardiac remodelling and hypertrophy?
Any change in the size, shape and/or function of the heart following some form of cardiac injury
Hypertrophy = increase in LV mass
What kinds of cardiac injury lead to ventricular hypertrophy?
Myocardial Infarction Cardiac Inflammation (Eg. myocarditis) Volume Overload (Regurgitation) Pressure Overloads (stenosis)
What is cardiac remodelling?
Normal LV mass but there is an increase in the relative thickness of the walls (redistribution)
What is Concentric Hypertrophy?
An increase in BOTH mass and LV thickness of the wall
= More sarcomeres in parallel to one another
= Overall diameter of the heart doesn’t necessarily change
= reduced chamber volume
= due to PRESSURE OVERLOAD (eg. aortic stenosis, chronic hypertension)
What is Eccentric Hypertrophy?
An increase in BOTH mass and thickness RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER
= More sarcomeres in series (cardiomyocyte elongation)
= large dilated ventricle
= due to VOLUME OVERLOAD (eg. regurgitation)
What are the characteristic of hypertrophy (at the cellular level)?
Increase in cell size (not number)
More mitochondria, myofibrils, SR
Increased fibroendothelial cell numbers
Increased interstitial matrix
What happens when the compensation (hypertrophy) fails and thus decompensation occurs?
LV dilation
Major increases in the pressure and volume in the ventricle
Reduced Ejection Fraction
Reduced systolic function and Cardiac Output
Eventual cardiac failure
What is the ejection fraction?
The percentage of blood leaving your heart each time it contract
Is hypertrophy symptomatic?
Normally hypertrophy is compensation and is asymptomatic. However at a some tipping point ‘something’ happens to cause decompensation
Why does concentric hypertrophy occur as a result of pressure overload?
A thicker wall is thought to reduce the wall stress (tension) according to Laplace’s Law
An adaptation to maintain the systolic function, cardiac output and end diastolic pressure