[Medical Q&A] Will the heart quietly become "fat" if you have long-term high blood pressure?

[Medical Q&A] Will the heart quietly become "fat" if you have long-term high blood pressure?

Author: Liu Machao Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Xia Jinggang, Chief Physician, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University

According to statistics, 43% of hypertensive patients have left ventricular hypertrophy. If hypertensive patients cannot control their blood pressure level well for a long time, peripheral vascular resistance will increase, and the pressure on the heart to transport blood to the peripheral blood vessels will be much greater than when the blood pressure is normal, which will increase the work of the myocardium. In the long run, just like people exercising their muscles, the heart will also "exercise" myocardial cells to hypertrophy and myocardial fiber proliferation under this "high-intensity" training, causing the myocardium to become hypertrophic, the myocardial contractility to decrease, causing myocardial blood supply to decrease, ischemia, affecting heart function, and significantly increasing the probability of heart failure, arrhythmia, stroke and sudden death.

Clinically, the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy caused by hypertension mainly relies on echocardiography, electrocardiogram, and X-ray examinations. Echocardiography can detect changes in heart damage at an early stage by measuring indicators such as heart size, ventricular wall thickness, heart end-systolic diameter, and cardiac ejection fraction. Therefore, patients with hypertension must undergo regular physical examinations and echocardiography.

<<:  [Medical Q&A] How to identify baby’s prickly heat?

>>:  [Medical Q&A] Can birth defects be detected during pregnancy?

Recommend

What is the reason why women have water discharge from their vagina?

After women reach adulthood, some vaginal secreti...

Intestinal flora imbalance is not a trivial matter

Lung cancer, depression, hypertension, obesity......

Lower abdominal pain and excessive vaginal discharge

Female friends must pay attention to the situatio...

Can women have sex with urinary tract infection?

Women's physical health is very important, bu...

Can I have an abortion at 42 days?

Most women will choose to have an abortion in the...

Can I eat mango when I have my period?

Many girls are very troubled during their menstru...

Kidney cysts are a disease that almost all elderly people will suffer from.

Author: Zuo Li, Chief Physician, Peking Universit...

What do contractions feel like before labor?

Pregnant women will have uterine contractions bef...

Which cancers are related to “eating”?

Pay attention, pay attention! The following 8 typ...

Premonitions of second childbirth

With the arrival of the era of two children, many...

How to treat a few white hairs on the genitals

If white hair appears on the pubic area, it is du...

What are the symptoms of sequelae of induced abortion

Induced abortion is also a common way to terminat...

When you stop breastfeeding, the engorgement will subside in a few days.

Babies need sufficient imported milk in the early...