Enlarged Heart

Our Approach

The doctors at Franciscan Health focus on treating the underlying causes of an enlarged heart. Your treatment plan may include:

Medications to:

• Lower blood pressure
• Improve heart function
• Promote urination, which puts less stress on how much fluid the heart must pump
• Pacemaker to help keep a regular heartbeat
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to deliver shocks that control abnormal heartbeats
• Bypass surgery if coronary artery disease has caused enlargement of the heart
• Heart valve surgery to repair or replace a leaky valve

Learn more about cardiovascular surgery at Franciscan Health.

How is an enlarged heart diagnosed?

Our doctors can detect an enlarged heart even if you have no symptoms or are being examined for other conditions. Enlargement of the heart will be visible on an X-ray.

Your doctor will then use other tests to determine why the heart is enlarged including:

• Echocardiography: Echocardiography uses sound waves to produce images of the heart. Your doctor can then evaluate each of the heart's chambers. Echocardiography can uncover a congenital problem (a condition you were born with).
• EKG: EKG (electrocardiogram) uses electrodes to measure the heart's electrical activity.
• Stress test: An exercise stress test measures how well the heart performs during physical activity.
• Blood tests: Blood tests can determine or dismiss other causes of an enlarged heart.
• Cardiac catheterization: In some cases, you may need cardiac catheterization. During this procedure, a doctor inserts a tube into an artery in the groin. The tube runs up to the heart so the doctor can take a tissue sample.

What is an enlarged heart?

Cardiomegaly is the medical term for an enlarged heart. It refers to what doctors see on a chest X-ray. The condition may be temporary if it happens during pregnancy.

What causes an enlarged heart?

An enlarged heart is the result of other ailments, usually in the cardiovascular system. The heart grows in response to stress that damages the organ's muscle.

The heart has some give and take. But the larger the heart muscle grows, the less flexible it becomes. That inflexibility reduces its ability to pump blood.

People born with heart problems are at a higher risk for an enlarged heart. Sometimes doctors can't find a cause. Numerous conditions can enlarge the heart including:

• Anemia
• Cardiomyopathy (diseased heart muscle)
• Coronary heart disease
• Fluid around the heart sac
• High blood pressure
• Infections
• Kidney disease
• Underactive or overactive thyroids
• Valve disease

Symptoms of an enlarged heart

People with an enlarged heart may show no symptoms. But if they do, symptoms may include:

• Chest pain
• Fainting
• Heart palpitations
• Shortness of breath
• Swelling