Dilatation of the left and right ventricles

At an early stage, dilatation of the left ventricle is asymptomatic. The first manifestations begin to disturb a person when the disease begins to progress. The patient may show signs such as shortness of breath, increased fatigue, decreased stamina, swelling, and aching pain in the heart.

These manifestations are also characteristic of other heart diseases, so it is necessary to conduct a complete diagnosis.

Reasons for development

Dilatation is a disease when the cavity of one, less often two chambers of the heart expands. The pathological process can develop in the left or right ventricle, left or right atrium. The disease can take two forms. Tonogenic dilatation develops against the background of arterial hypertension, when an excess amount of blood is collected in one of the chambers. This form can lead to myocardial hypertrophy. If the disease proceeds in a myogenic form, irreversible changes occur in the heart, the contractile function of the organ is weakened.

The main function of the left ventricle is to transport blood from the left atrium to the aorta.

The occurrence of the disease can be triggered by such factors:

• arterial disease;
• myocarditis;
• cardiac ischemia;
• aortic stenosis;
• heart defects.

The disease can be congenital or acquired. Especially dangerous is dilated cardiomyopathy - a condition when the chambers of the ventricle expand for no apparent reason. The disease is very dangerous, because it leads to irreversible changes in the heart chambers.

The cavity of the right ventricle can also expand, but the symptoms and causes of this condition are completely different. Pathological changes in the right side of the heart occur against the background of improper functioning of the pulmonary valve.

Provoking factors:

• pulmonary hypertension;
• bacterial endocarditis.

Pathology of the right ventricle often develops in patients with rheumatism.

There are a number of factors that provoke the expansion of the cavities of both the left and right chambers of the heart.

These include:

• poisoning the body with toxic substances;
• the presence of neoplasms of a malignant or benign nature;
• autoimmune diseases;
• thyroid pathology;
• complications after infectious and viral diseases.

Pathological changes in the ventricles and atria can be a side effect of taking certain medications. Often the cause of the development of dilatation is the infection of the patient with parasites.

Diagnosis of the disease

At the initial stage of the development of dilatation, patients may not even suspect that a pathological process is taking place in the heart.

There are several effective diagnostic techniques with which you can get a detailed, informative picture of the state of the heart, including identifying the expansion of the cavities:

1. The most popular method of examining the heart - ECG - in this case, only allows you to suspect dilation, but does not give a conclusion about the presence of this disease.
2. The most informative method is ultrasound diagnostics. In this case, such an indicator as the end-diastolic size of the left ventricle is taken into account. Normally, the CDR of this chamber of the heart does not exceed 56 cm, but the height and weight of the patient are also taken into account.

Dilation Treatment

It is not possible to completely get rid of dilatation in all cases. The fact is that if the chamber expands, it will no longer be able to pull back, because the fabric loses its elasticity and elasticity.

However, timely detection of the disease and the start of proper treatment will help stop the progression of the pathological process in the heart and improve the quality of life of the patient.

If you start the disease, it is fraught with such complications:

• heart failure;
• mitral valve insufficiency;
• development of arrhythmias.

Therapy for dilatation of the left ventricle will differ depending on the causes of the development of pathology.

Therapeutic measures should be aimed primarily at eliminating provoking factors.

The consequence of the expansion of the cavity of the left ventricle is the deterioration of the contractile function of the heart. It can no longer fully pump blood and deliver oxygen and nutrients to other internal organs in a timely manner.

There are only two ways to help the patient in this case:

• installation of a pacemaker;
• heart transplant.

If nothing is done, the heart will stop.