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Can anyone help with this?

I have just had an Echocardiogram with the following summary:

The left ventricle has a normal function, it is of normal size and mildly hypertrophied.
There is moderate mitral regurgitation into moderately dilated left atrium
The calculated pulmonary artery systolic pressure is around 39-44 mmHg
The right ventricle is hypertrophied, mildly dilated and hyperdynamic.
The systemic venous pressure is not raised
The aortic arch was not well seen
The aortic valve appears normal with no stenosis or regurgitation

I am awaiting a referral to a specialist and this may take up to 3 weeks!  I know that this summary isn't very positive but I am not sure of the extent of the problem.

How anyone shed more light in terms of the likely scale of the problem.
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367994 tn?1304953593
QUOTE: "I agree, the pressure generated via your left ventricle through the leaky mitral valve into your left atrium is causing enlargement and back pressure for the pulmonary system".

Good research, but what you agree to is not what I said.   It is the right side that works harder than normal to overcome the resistance of the pulmonary artery indicated by high pulmonary pressure. As a consequence the right ventricle increases in size, etc.

The left side is pumping normally, if it weren't, blood would back up into lungs and peripheral and fluids would leak into the tissues via pulmonary VESSELS (high pulmonary pressure relates to the pulmonary ARTERY)  and system vessels of the peripherals .  This would be congested heart failure.  

The danger of an enlarged left atrium is that it could cause unstable rhythms that can cause clots as the blood pools. I don't believe regurgation causes clots as I have seen my heart's regurgitation. The blood doesn't pool...the backflow is visible and regurgitation of the blood is dynamic and usually timely, not pooling.
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976897 tn?1379167602
I agree, the pressure generated via your left ventricle through the leaky mitral valve into your left atrium is causing enlargement and back pressure for the pulmonary system.
I believe you may require a more detailed scan to see exactly what is going on with the valve. It could be damaged or diseased. Maybe they will perform a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) scan. Another issue is that if you get a build up of blood not circulating properly in the atrium, it can turn 'clotty'. I assume they have given you good anticoagulent medication. When performing the scan, a colour is applied to the image to show exactly how/where the blood is leaking back through the valve. This is called a colour doppler. A yellow jet shows blood going back through the valve in the wrong direction. This will give the Doctor a good indication of what is likely wrong with the vavle and if it can be corrected, or whether a replacement valve is required.
The report doesn't mention the opening size of the mitral valve orifice. Sometimes if this shrinks down, it causes the valve to become mishaped and ballooning the orifice in some cases restores the correct valve shape. I'm a bit surprised this dimension isn't reported.
Don't worry though, not much is going to happen in the next three weeks, just take things easy and don't over exert yourself.
Helpful - 0
367994 tn?1304953593
Your mitral valve does not fully close covering the one-way valve and blood leaks back into the upper chamber (atrium) rather than pumped into circulation...moderately is getting close to being serious and for some individuals it may be serious.  Upper chamber (left atrium) is slightly enlarged and that could be due to the mitral valve regurgatation...shouldn't be any problem with slight enlargement.
Except for the MVR your left side of the heart is pumping blood adequately.

The right side of the heart (blood rec'd from the system is pumped to the lungs) shows a higher than normal systole (pumping phase) resistance measured by pressure.  Normal is 15 to 30 mmHg causing the right ventricle to be hypertrophied (enlarged), mildly dilated and hyperdynamic (there is some heart wall impairment).  

The pressing problem is to get the pulmonary artery pressure under control.  If the right-side is not efficient in getting blood to the lungs to be oxygenated, it will eventually cause the left side pumping chamber to begin to fail.  At the present time, the report indicates the left ventricle is functioning normally.
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