Atrial hypertrophy is when the right atrium of the heart becomes enlarged, causing changes in electrical impulses and an irregular heartbeat. It can be caused by various underlying medical conditions and is best treated by addressing the root cause. There is no direct cure for atrial hypertrophy.
Atrial hypertrophy is a medical condition in which the right atrium of the heart becomes enlarged due to the thickening of the heart walls and an increase in the overall size of the atrium. The enlargement causes changes in the normal electrical impulses within the heart. When this happens, the heart starts beating erratically.
A normal heartbeat has four parts. They follow each other in rapid succession as blood pumps through the four chambers of the heart. In a person who has atrial hypertrophy, the right atrium pushes blood through the right ventricle in a way that is out of sync with the rest of the heart.
On an electrocardiogram (ECG or ECG), which measures electrical impulses within the heart, the waves in the right atrium and those in the left atrium should look nearly identical, except that the right waves start first. When right atrial hypertrophy is present, the right wave is often much larger than the left and overlaps the left. This means that the right atrium is pushing blood through the tricuspid valve and into the right ventricle before the ventricle is ready to receive it. The result of this is an eventual lack of oxygenated blood which is pumped back into the bloodstream.
The right atrium is considered by most physicians to be out of the normal size range when measured by ultrasound with a diameter greater than 1.5 inches (4 centimeters). This is also called atrial dilatation. If atrial enlargement remains undiagnosed, other parts of the heart can suffer damage. They may weaken or, in the case of ventricular hypertrophy, enlarge.
This can happen for a variety of reasons. Hypertrophy is often a reaction to high blood pressure caused by stress and other health problems. Enlargement of the atrium is usually the result of an underlying medical cause. Some of these causes include genetic disorders, including metabolic storage diseases; altitude sickness; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); chronic bronchitis; and emphysema. A history of smoking is also common among sufferers.
There is no direct cure for this type of heart enlargement. Neither drugs nor surgery have shown any sustained improvement for atrial hypertrophy. Cardiologists agree that the best way to treat this problem is to find and treat the underlying cause. If the damage that has already been done to the atrium is reversible, it will decrease in size on its own once the underlying condition is resolved.
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