Cardiomegaly (patient information)

Cardiomegaly

Overview

What are the symptoms?

What are the causes?

Who is at highest risk?

When to seek urgent medical care?

Diagnosis

Treatment options

Where to find medical care for Cardiomegaly?

Possible complications

Cardiomegaly On the Web

Ongoing Trials at Clinical Trials.gov

Images of Cardiomegaly

Videos on Cardiomegaly

FDA on Cardiomegaly

CDC on Cardiomegaly

Cardiomegaly in the news

Blogs on Cardiomegaly

Directions to Hospitals Treating Cardiomegaly

Risk calculators and risk factors for Cardiomegaly

For the WikiDoc page for this topic, click here

Editors-in-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D.

## Overview

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Cardiomegaly is an enlargement (i.e megaly) of the heart (Cardio means heart in Greek). It’s not a disease in itself but a physical sign that occur in many diseases and condition.

## What are the symptoms of cardiomegaly?

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It can present with the following symptoms:

* Shortness of breath
* Dizziness
* Swelling (edema)
* Abnormal rhythm (arrhythmia)
* Cough

It can also be asymptomatic in some people.

## What causes Cardiomegaly?

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Cardiomegaly can occur in various disease conditions like congenital heart defects, heart valve disease, hemochromatosis, HIV, pulmonary hypertension and high blood pressure etc. It can also occur in some storage diseases like Fabry disease, amyloidosis, sarcoidosis etc. It can also occur in other conditions like alcoholism , cocaine and crack abuse, pregnancy.

## Who is at highest risk?

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Cardiomegaly as mentioned above is a physical sign so the patient is at risk if present with the following conditions like:

* High blood pressure
* Positive family history of cardiomyopathy
* Coronary artery disease
* Congenital heart disease

## When to seek urgent medical care?

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One should seek medical care when suffering from symptoms of cardiomegaly or a positive family history.

## Diagnosis

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The cause of cardiomegaly must be identified, if possible, for this the physician may decide to do the following:

* Chest X-ray
* Echocardiogram
* Electrocardiogram
* Cardiac CT or MRI
* Blood tests to check for levels of certain substance like iron in case of hemochromatosis
* Heart biopsy via cardiac catheterization

## Treatment options

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Treatment depends on the specific etiology.

## Where to find medical care for Cardiomegaly?

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Directions to Hospitals Treating Cardiomegaly

## Possible complications

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* Heart Failure .
* Arrythmia i.e. irregular heart beat.
* Sudden cardiac death.

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