echo understandng/am i introuble??

[marclive365]

im 38 and a smoker about 10 cigs a day..i am 2 months sober and ive had heart issues since i was 18.
chest pains,palpations,shortness of breath ect. ive seen a number of cardiologist and been to th er for symptoms many many times...mow recently in august i got an echo because my heart was coming up big on the ekgs i was taking.im on a ace inhibitor and calcium blocker ive never had a heart attack but im concerned with my last echo reading hear are the results

normal rt and lt ventricular sytolic function
mild left ventricular hypertrophy noted
mild tricuspid regurgitation
normal pericardial effusion,thrombi or vegitation seen
ejection fraction 65%
left diameter diast:41.5mm
rv diameter diast:17.7mm
lv mass 254g
lv fract shortening 35%
post wall diastole 14.7mm
lv diamter syst: 26.9mm

please let me know what these numbers and findings mean thanks!forum

[marclive365]

yeh they said everything was alright when i asked in august but it was down by a physician and she did an echo in office and had a cardiologist read the findings but i never got to talk to him...so im kinda in the dark thats why i came to the forum to see if i could get some insite....and my insurance ran out so now im kinda in the dark...

[erijon]

You're very welcome. The main thing is to not panic over it, that was not my intent. Your doctor will tell you if there is any significance or not, I suspect if there was a concern they would have already spoken to you but I would still ask as it may need to checked annually for a bit.

Good luck!

Jon

[marclive365]

thanks jon your a big help..i will look into that asap...thanks

[erijon]

The report also shows that your atriums are of a normal size as is your left ventricle. What they are measuring is the inside mass of the chambers here, not the thickness of the walls. Again, the valves appear mostly normal with a little thickening of your mitral valve.

These are are just other findings, again I would want an explanation of the LVH that was noted. Mild LVH begins at measurements greater than 11.0mm up to 15.0mm and moderate LVH starts at measurements greater than 15.0mm. Make your doctor explain this finding to you, he owes you that. It may be considered normal, however LVH can be dangerous and cause some of the symptoms you describe like the palpitations and the shortness of breath.

Jon

[marclive365]

hey jon thanks for the response
whats wierd is that on the top line of results its says

left ventricle appears to be normal in size with normal lt ventricular systolic fuction

biatrail size is normal
aortic valve is grossly normal
mitral valve mildly thickened with adequete fuction

can you help me with this why does it say this but the conclusions say something else

[erijon]

Let me start by saying that you really need your doctor to explain each of these items with you as they are more qualified to respond to your concerns.

On the positive side, your EF% is good at 65% meaning that your heart is pumping out 65% of the blood in the left ventricle on each beat. Also, your valves seem to be in good shape with mild regurgitation which is very common.

I would want more clarification about the LVH. Your post wall diastole of 14.7mm is still classified as mild but is close to the moderate level of 15.0mm. You need to work with your doctor to determine the underlying cause so it can be resolved and the thickening of your heart muscle can be stopped. Thicker muscle will make your heart stiff and not as efficient as it should be. It will not be able to relax properly during the diastolic phase of your heart beat so it will not fill with as much blood as it should.

You should schedule an appointment to discuss this with your doctor. He may interpret these numbers as within a normal variant but you need a medical professional's opinion.

Hope this helps,

Jon