What can an enlarged heart do?

Answer 1

Enlarged heart isn't a disease, but rather a symptom of another condition. Its main cause is the stress on our body, such as pregnancy, weakening of the heart muscle, coronary artery disease, health valve problems or abnormal heart rhythms.

Answer 2

What happens is the cause, and the enlarged side of the heart, the effect. It's not the other way round. The heart is like any other muscle. When it encounters resistance, it works harder and gets bigger. The right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs, so if the arterioles of the lungs are producing the resistance, this will be enlarged. The left side of the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body. If the arterioles here offer resistance, it will become larger.

Answer 3

Yes! because it has to pump harder to provide blood oxygen to the brain and vital organs of the body.Causes most problems with the valves and chambers opening and closing properly.also causes respiratory issues.

Answer 4

There are many reasons for an enlarged heart. First of all you should know that the heart is basically a muscle, and like most other muscles it will grow when excercised. The following is a short list of common causes:

- Athletes: Athletes, especially those practicing endurance sports like marathon-running can have enlarged hearts. This is perfectly normal, and not unhealthy in any way.

- High blood-pressure, often due to atherosclerosis: Because of the high bloodpressure, the heart has to perform more to pump against the increased pressure, and this will in time leed to the heart being enlarged.

- Insuficient heart valves, this being because of leakage or too-narrow valves: Leaky valves will cause the heart to have to pump excessively to keep a normal pressure, because blood will usually leak backwards into the heart from high pressure towards low. The heart has to overcome this, and in turn will be enlarged from the increased strain. Narrowed valves cause more resistance for the heart, and this in turn will also cause heart-enlargement.

Some degree of heart enlargement is tolerable, but once the heart becomes too-enlarged it gets increasingly more difficult for it to function as an effective pump. Usually the walls of the heart will get too thick, and loose some of their flexibility. Once the heart gets too enlarged to pump efficiently, the person is in the beginning of what is called heart failure.

Answer 5

There are many potential causes from pathological causes to genetics, some of them I can list for you below:

Disease/genetic mutation affecting the heart muscle cells

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Aneurysm

Thyroid diseases

Coronary artery disease --> the most common

Myocarditis or endocarditis

Obesity

Old age

Myocardial Infarction/Myocardial Ischemia

Heart valve disease

Answer 6

An enlarged heart can cause blood not to pump properly to the heart. Congestive heart failure can occur if the heart is enlarged and not working properly.

Answer 7

An enlarged ventricle can cause palpitations.

Answer 8

Cardiomegaly