Numerous Heart issues?

[IdSmash84]

Two years ago I had severe bacterial pneumonia after giving birth to my daughter. When being discharged from the hospital I was told I had a "mild leaky heart valve" and not to worry.

Well, I started to get a weird numbness in my last three fingers on my left hand. I went to my Doctor and she suggested Carpal Tunnel. For some reason, I brought up the leaky heart valve and she went in her records. She printed out the sheet and it said that I had a "dilated left atrium with a mild trace of mirtal regurgitation". She assured me this was no big deal and we would follow up on it in "10-20 years". I'm 27 years old by the way.

After this, I decided to look in my records online and found my CT results. Listed in these results there are several mentions of heart issues, including fluid around the heart. I was never told about this nor treated for it.

Can someone please tell me if they feel this is something I should be concerned about two years later? Could I still have the fluid around my heart? I am so afraid of having heart failure.

Here are the results:

HISTORY:
25Y/O WITH HOSPITAL ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA GETTING BETTER BUT HAS ONGOING
EPISODES OF MIND HEMOPTYSIS ,NEED TO EVALUATE FOR CAVITATION OF
PNA


REPORT:
CT scan of the chest WITH intravenous contrast, using standard
protocol.

COMPARISON: None

FINDINGS:
Lines/tubes: None.

Lungs and Airways: There is multifocal bilateral consolidation
and groundglass opacities predominantly in the left lung. However
there are also foci of consolidation and groundglass opacities in
the right lung. The major bronchi are patent.

Pleura: The pleural spaces are clear.

Heart and mediastinum: The thyroid gland is normal. There are
prominent right and left paratracheal, subcarinal and bilateral
hilar lymph nodes. A subcarinal lymph node on image 51 measures
1.2 cm and the left hilar lymph node image 51 measures 1 cm in
short axis.. The heart is normal in size. There is
circumferential small pericardial effusion. There is anterior
mediastinal soft tissue, consistent with thymus.There is an
aberrant right subclavian artery.

Soft tissues: There are bilateral prominent axillary lymph nodes,
a right axillary lymph node on image 31 measures 1.3 cm in short
axis and a left IJ lymph node on image 30 measures 0.1 mm in short
axis.

Abdomen: There is a small hypodensity in the liver on image 91,too
small to be characterized. Limited contrast-enhanced views of the
upper abdomen show no abnormality within the visualized spleen,
pancreas, or kidneys. The adrenal glands are normal.

Bones: The visualized bony thorax is within normal limits.

IMPRESSION:
Multifocal consolidation and groundglass opacities involving both
lungs, left greater than right. The differential includes
pneumonia, pulmonary hemorrhage and vasculitis. In chronic
clinical setting neoplastic process should also be entertained.

Slightly enlarged mediastinal, hilar and bilateral axillary lymph
nodes. These may represent reactive or neoplastic lymph nodes.

Small circumferential pericardial effusion.

The urgent finding was discussed with Dr._, MBBS at
the time of interpretation,6/7/2009 10:56 AM. within 10 minutes

[kenkeith]

Q: After this, I decided to look in my records online and found my CT results. Listed in these results there are several mentions of heart issues, including fluid around the heart. I was never told about this nor treated for it. ....Small circumferential pericardial effusion.

>>>>Between the heart and a sac that surrounds the heart there is pericardial fluids.  Small effusion would have any significance...but when and if it is excessive, the excessive effusion can restrict and impede the heart from dilating properly and effecting pumping contractions.  Viral pericarditis usually improves on its own with time. Mild pain relievers may be all you need to relieve inflammation and control pain. Bacterial pericarditis requires antibiotics in addition to pain relievers.

Q:"dilated left atrium with a mild trace of mirtal regurgitation".

Mild, trace, slight, etc.  MVR is considered medically insignificant and usually does not progress nor cause any symptoms.  A dilated LA may have some significance and the underlying cause should be evalulated and treated.  Considerations would be the size of the enlargement, a small enlargement usually won't pose any noticable problems, but a large size can cause electrical impulse impediment causing such as atrial fibrillation to stroke, due to blood pooling in the atrium. Worst case scenario with large sized atrium abnormality.  

Hope this helps, and if you have any other questions or comments you are welcome to respond.  Take care,  

Ken