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By the way, doctor: What can be done about a growing heart?

By the way, doctor

What can be done about a growing heart?

Q. My doctor told me my heart is growing. He says there is no cure. Do you know of anything to reverse or slow down the growing heart? I am an 86-year-old World War II veteran.

A. Each of the heart's four chambers is a blood-filled space surrounded by a wall of heart muscle. These four chambers work as four separate pumps, pushing blood around your body.

Four chambers of the heart

Most people are born with a small but perfectly shaped heart that grows in proportion to the rest of the body. Once you stop growing, your heart stops growing.

Different conditions, though, can cause the heart to grow after the rest of your body stops doing so: Either the muscular wall of a chamber thickens or the inside space expands — or both.

High blood pressure is one such condition. The heart's largest chamber, the left ventricle, must work harder because it's trying to push blood against a higher pressure. Over time, the extra workload thickens the left ventricle wall.

A leaky heart valve is another. When a valve leaks, some of the blood that has just been pumped out slips back into the chamber. The backflow can enlarge the inside space of the chamber because it's forced to hold more blood than it was designed to.

Most of the conditions that cause a heart to grow can be treated. A cardiologist should be able to determine whether the growth of your heart can be reversed. There's a good chance that it can.

— Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. Harvard Health Letter Editor in Chief

Last updated:	September 05, 2008