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Enlarged Heart

Enlarged heart refers to an increase in the size of the heart. (Read about "The Heart & Cardiovascular System") Left ventricular hypertrophy or LVH refers to enlargement (or hypertrophy) of the left ventricle, which is the main pumping chamber of the heart. Heart enlargement can indicate serious underlying problems. The American Heart Association (AHA) says heart enlargement can be caused by a thickening of the heart muscle due of increased workload caused by another condition. Potential causes include:

• high blood pressure, the most common cause according to AHA (Read about "Hypertension: High Blood Pressure")
• heart attack (Read about "Heart Attack")
• heart valve disease (Read about "The Heart & Its Valves")
• coronary heart disease (Read about "Coronary Heart Disease")
• cardiomyopathy (Read about "Cardiomyopathy")
• congestive heart failure (Read about "Congestive Heart Failure")
• congenital heart problems (Read about "Congenital Heart Defects")
• obesity (Read about "Obesity")
• exercise

An enlarged heart may cause no symptoms. If symptoms are present, they can include:

• shortness of breath
• arrhythmia (Read about "Arrhythmia")
• swelling or edema

An enlarged heart can be detected with a physical examination, x-ray, ultrasound, echocardiogram or other imaging tests. (Read about "X-rays" "Ultrasound Imaging" "Cardiovascular Tests") Treatment is aimed at correcting the underlying cause of the enlarged heart.