left Ventricle hypertrophy - best test - British Heart Fou...

British Heart Foundation

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left Ventricle hypertrophy - best test

8 Replies

hello

Just a question if can be answered here from experience / knowledge - can LVH be detected on an angiogram (invasive)?

I know I have mild LVH from an echocardiogram April 2022 - “ increased relative wall thickness anf normal LV mass suggest concentric remodelling LV geometry” - research on my CHD (myocardial bridge) indicates this is a common development as result of the CHD doing its thing - squishing part of my LAD on every heartbeat where it’s buried in heart muscle.

“Visual” EF was stated as 55-60% which is normal?

I ask as I had a more recent angiogram in January and just wondered if the LVH would have ordinarily been seen then?

Google (I know) states reliably echocardiograms are the best test though.

I “quietly” worry my CHD is making it worse and will continue to as I have no meds to treat it (run out of options) and surgery is definitely a no due to the specific anatomical nature of my myocardial bridge.

I would one day like the assurance not getting worse but would I have to wait till (if or when’) symptoms get worse before they’d do a repeat echo?

(Symptoms - Chest pain/pressure/tightness, shortness of breath, tiredness and fatigue and on occasion dizziness and headaches - and the weird pounding heart that I can literally see virbrating in my chest and feel in my neck and head)

welcome any insight. 😊

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8 Replies

Sorry carnt really help with that one. I did think an echo and an mri would show it up very clearly. But I don't really know. How are you?

in reply to

I would love to say feeling much better and seeing improvement but I’d be fibbing😉 same old. Just waiting on work and what they intend to do with me, been off sick nearly 7 months, the heart is what it is and it’s just doing its thing. I’m kind of resigned to it but I have my dark moments. Resting is my daily occupation now😊

Hope you’re making some progress with coming to terms with things, little by little. ❤️

in reply to

Yes same here to some degree. Iam at the gym trying to prepare for cpet test. Work,i I jumped ship before I was pushed. Sort of golden handshake? Any way I don't think people understand the disabilities these congenital diseases cause. Having another go at mental health help on nhs. Trying to take a day at a time. My wife tries her best but it is hard on her and others. We had a little escape to a hotel not far from me and she paid for a massage. I did not want that massage to end. All my aches and pains went away only to be back to square one today. I try to push a bit at a time. But I do wonder if my blood pressure medication has cause some of the side effects I feel, but carnt prove it and the specialist is happy with how my body has improved in her eyes but it's the tiredness and being breathless. I except that i had the breathlessness before., but it is just the exhaustion and tiredness. I don't know if blood pressure tablets can cause these symptoms. Trouble is the medical people love seeing it low but does my body like low blood pressure. It is hard and i do have some empathy with your predicament. But you have to put faith in them. Keep strong.

in reply to

I think side effects may cause the tiredness, a BHF nurse said straight away when I told her I was on amlodipine that’ll cause tiredness. Guess we have to accept the lesser of two evils - tiredness or impact of blood pressure.

Good you’re trying stuff, that’s key. At least your trying.

Good luck.

in reply to

Yes that's the hard bit. Got to except the side effects. Because I don't know what the options are? I will keep trying stuff. But I don't know what I want. I keep saying empathy just to make people understand what I and the rest of us are feeling both mentally and physically. Iam hoping that if as my cardiologist says my fluids in my body are normal, can I reduce my spironolactone? but thats all down to having a good cpet test. But who knows. It is hard. And it's one journey I did not want. Any way thanks for replying.

in reply to

No problem, all the best for the test, best foot forward ….literally on the CPET test🤭

Well my experience after 2 NSTEMIs where I had angiograms and echocardiograms (Oct 2019 and July 2021) was that LVH was not detected. On a further stay in hospital with chest pains in January 2023 a CT Angiogram was done where LVH and a small hiatus hernia were discovered/found /diagnosed. Of course they may have just occurred since July 2021 (who knows?) But I was given an echocardiogram but not an invasive Angiogram in Jan 2023 (as it was known my arteries were clear from the previous 2 angiograms).

in reply to Heartattackvictim

thank you for sharing this, it’s interesting not seen on on first echos but as you say could have developed after. I too have a small hiatus hernia found on echocardiogram. My arteries as fairly clear but they thought on CT scan I had a moderate blockage so was given an invasive angiogram with option to stent but I believe it was the CHD masquerading as a blockage regards impact on blood flow - I distinctly remember the cardiologist stopping abruptly and now I think about it quite sheepishly saying you have a bridge as he’d waltzed in saying “mrs x you have a significant blockage” - I shortly after asked for a second opinion and got transferred to a much better cardiologist 😊

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