Right ventricular hypertrophy

Heart health and blood vessels
1

Hello!

My son has 19 y.o. and was diagnosed with right ventricular hypertrophy.

His doctor told him that this condition is due to the fact that  since he was 16 y. o. he had been lifting weights intensively and there is nothing to worry about.

The physician prescribed him Mg and B6 vitamin.

Frankly speaking, me and my son still worry a lot and we are not sure if the physician was reading the EKG aprropriately.

This is the photo of an EKG. Could you help us figure out if it's something unusual with this EKG? I know my report is oversimplified, but I would appreciate a lot to know other opinion on this EKG as well .

http://imgur.com/LF6iGUU

Thank you!

2

How was this diagnosed, and does he see a cardiologist, I would think seeing a senior cardiologist would be my first port of call. 

Husband at 59, GP or regular Dr said there was nothing wrong with him, but to me he was not as normal, I had to insist that he be seen by cardiologist.

How did I know, he needed a cardio Dr, I didn't realize until it was pointed out to me by nurse sister (sibling) that I had lived with a father with heart failure, he had it when I was born, and now my husband had developed the same, Dad's was from rheumatic fever, husbands from a virus or so they think, sister thinks I sub-conciously recognised the same even though Dad had died 40 years ago, before the modern drugs that are keeping my husband alive were available, husband also has a pacemaker and defibulator with three leads keeping his heart going, he has improved out of site since the pacemker installed.

My husband is only alive because of my strong demands, even junior cardiologists have dismissed subtle symptoms, husband does not get swollen ankles of most heart failure patients, but I can tell you when he is in trouble just by looking at him. 

Educate yourself, ask lots of questions, hit the library, ask the local Dr for his cardiology books, and get an understanding of his condition, and then educate both of you, keep fit, husband walks 4 - 5 klm's a day, rides a stationery bike 3 - 4 times a day for 5 minutes at a time, doesn't allow himelf to get too breathless, has learnt to stop and take a breather, does his best to control weight, we have a dietitian available to us to help when we feel the need.

We are in Australia so we have universal health system thank god, because without it we would be in real trouble financially.

5 visits to heart hospital, each and every time life threatening in the last 5 years, last time, just a couple of weeks ago he caught a virus, and he got really sick, blood in urine, liver function tests extremly high, platelets collapsed, on the verge of giving him platelets transfusion, when his bloods came back from lab as improving, heart hospital kept him for 5 days, and then sent him home with me, with strict intructions and lots more out patient blood tests, he rested up for a couple of weeks, doing very little, this week his energy levels are back to normal and driving me nuts.

 

3

Mihai,

My son who is now 42, lifted weights when he was a teenager, and I was told it's a normal physiological response for RVH to develop with that kind of conditioning.

The only time it's of concern is when it occurs in conjunction with certain other findings that would indicate a congenital heart defect.  I have had RVH for over 2 decades, and I have those other findings.  One is an incomplete right bundle branch block detected on a 12 lead ekg, a lower left sternal border murmer, a fixed split second sound heard by auscultation, and certain laboratory markers, but those can be absent even in the presence of a defect.  I had failure to thrive as a child meaning my weight was never consistent with my height.  At 9 years of age I weighed what a typical 5 year old would weigh.  I'm sure the GP who delivered me back in 1953 was not even aware of this defect, because when a baby is born the left and right ventricles are of equal thickness, therefore none of the aforementioned clinical findings would be detected.  He should, however, have noticed the murmur as I got older, but probably couldn't heart it, because the only times I ever went for office visits was when I was suffering from a chest cold, and it''s impossible to hear that murmur when a patient is suffering from that particular ailment.  But he should have wondered why I was so underweight despite a good

appetite.  Poor doctor, in my opinion, and I have paid the price, my quality of life is very poor.  Unless your son has other findings I would say the doctor was right in his diagnosis.