unfolding of great vessels

[vandevsr]

An elderly friend of mine recently received the following diagnosis from a checkup she had recently:

"superior mediastinal widening related to unfolding of great vessels...
"borderline cardiomegaly with left ventricular enlargement and unfolding of thoracic aorta."

As you might have guessed, she's confused as to what this means.  Could someone interpret this in to layman's terms easier for us to understand?

Thanks so much!

[kenkeith]

Borderline cardiomegaly is a slight degree of heart enlargement can be seen in obese patients, especially when there is concomitant high blood pressure. The more important concern is whether the heart pumping function is abnormal - this is more of a determinant in whether you have a cardiomyopathy (pathological enlargement).

"Superior mediastinal widening related to of great vessels..." mediastinal is widing of space and a partition separating adjacent parts within the chest cavity and "superior" is the space above the pericardium (above the heart).  Left ventricular enlargement relates to the heart's left chamber (pumping chamber).  Thoracic aorta is the section of the aorta located in the chest area.  There can be a congenital deformity, form tortuosity causing obstructive or non obstructive coarctation (closing, blocking).