About me: 31 y/o male, 6', 160 lbs, relatively sedentary with brief periods (a few months at a time, a few times a year) of regular exercise, blood pressure usually in mid-to-high 120s/mid-to-high 70s.
Four years ago I saw a cardiologist for palpitations & chest pain. It was ultimately determined to be anxiety related after a normal stress test including EKG/Echo. One year ago I had another echo done at the request of my gastroenterologist due to pain I was experiencing. I guess he wanted to rule out cardiac causes even though he had just diagnosed me with a hiatal hernia.
I recently acquired copies of the reports from both the echos. In the first echo, my LVPWd was 0.7 cm and IVSd was 0.8 cm, both at the low end of normal. Three years later, my LVPWd was 1.1 cm and IVSd was 1.2 cm, one at the upper limit of normal, the other above. The notes on the second suggested borderline LVH and possible diastolic dysfunction. After speaking to my cardiologist, he suggested that the different machines/technicians/interpreters could result in the differences in measurements and that he was not worried about it. He said he would only trust changes in consecutive echos when performed by his tech on his machines interpreted by his guy. Then he said what frustrated me, which was that with my readings my insurance would not pay for another echo until 2 years after my most recent one. He scheduled an echo "just to check it out" in October, which will be 2 years after my last one.
I worry now that perhaps there could be an issue but that since insurance won't pay for another echo now, he's going to put it off at the expense of my health. Have any of you had readings that differed like this in which your cardiologist is not concerned? Have you noticed differences in M-Mode measurements on echos from different locations? Any insight or experiences are appreciated Thanks.