Dilated Left Ventricle Atrium

HilTri

About a year ago I had pericarditis so I had an echocardiogram. No one ever said anything about the dialation. I went to a Sports Medicine doctor last week who is concerned about it. He ordered another echocardiogram (01 Oct is my appt for it). My new doctor said it may have gone away if it was in fact caused by the pericarditis. If it hasn’t it may be caused by overtraining. I hardly call myself a cyclist (I spin a lot indoors). Does anyone know if this goes away? The doctor said it can lead to Afib. I would appreciate any insight.

HilTri

Left atrium, sorry about that.

Azdak

This is one of those “yes, no, maybe” questions. Your doctor has given you the basics. I think using the word “overtraining” is misleading, as heart enlargement can be a fairly normal result of following an endurance training program for a number of years. The training does not have to be excessive for that to occur.

There is no way to predict the clinical significance or the potential for “reversal”.

I suspect your case does not fall into one of the usual categories and so determining the significance and treatment is going to be an ongoing process. That’s frustrating, but it doesn’t been your potential outcome is negative. It just means the information you find online or will get from others is not going to be that relevant.

HilTri

Good to know. I am just going to keep going unless I don’t feel well. I feel fine. Thank you