What Does Thickening Of The Heart Wall Mean

The thickened septum may cause a narrowing that can block or reduce the blood flow.

What does thickening of the heart wall mean.

The thickening of the heart muscle does not tend to progress once you stop growing. In most cases the heart muscle weakens and is unable to pump blood to the rest of the body as well as it should. Many cases of heart wall thickening in older individuals are idiopathic meaning cause unknown. In most people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the muscular wall septum between the two bottom chambers of the heart ventricles becomes thicker than normal.

The main thing to due is make sure your blood pressure and cholesterol are ok as some studies indicated that idiopathic thickening can be associated with an increased risk of stroke. When the heart muscles are abnormally thick it makes it very difficult for the heart to pump blood. This means that for many people the symptoms remain stable during adulthood. Unfortunately the symptoms gradually become worse for some people as the heart muscle becomes more stiff.

Problems occur when the septum between the heart s lower chambers or ventricles is thickened. During this surgical procedure the surgeon removes a small amount of the thickened septal wall of the heart to widen the outflow tract the path the blood takes from the left ventricle to the aorta. Testing will not easily discern a cause. Thickening of the heart wall which is called cardiomyopathy has many causes including genetic factors long term high blood pressure damage of the heart tissue heart valve problems and metabolic disorders such as diabetes thyroid disease and obesity reveals mayo clinic.

It affects people of any age notes american heart association. Thickening of the heart muscles is caused by a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It can be caused by multiple factors and conditions including renal failure liver failure heart failure ascites hypoproteinemia and inflammation. The septum is the muscular wall that separates the left and right side of the heart.

Cardiomyopathy is a progressive disease of the myocardium or heart muscle. Thickening of the gallbladder wall is always abnormal although the significance of the thickening is highly dependent upon the underlying disease process.