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Cardiac Stress Tests Revealed Right Bundle Branch Block And Mildly Enlarged Right Ventricle. Should I Be Concerned?
Question: I recently had some cardiac stress tests, which revealed a right bundle branch block pattern as well as a mildly enlarged right ventricle. Could you explain their significance, and tell me whether I should be concerned? I am
70 years old, male, in generally good health (mild obstructive asthma, mild shortness of breath).
70 years old, male, in generally good health (mild obstructive asthma, mild shortness of breath).
Dear patient,
Thank you for your health concerns. In people with pulmonary disease, such as yourself (asthma) or others like COPD, sometimes the pressure in the vessels of the lungs can increase and as a compensatory mechanism, the right ventricle (which pumps blood into your lungs) suffers some hypertrophy (enlargement) to compensate for that extra effort. As long as the right ventricular function is noted to be normal and no progression is seen in interval examinations (let say an Echo in 2-3 years) then I would not be overtly concerned; the right bundle issue is related to the increase in size of the right ventricle: the electrical wires of the heart travel within the muscle of the heart and sometimes when the heart cells grow, they can "block" the electrical conduction of the heart; we accept currently right bundle branch block as a benign condition, especially if we have a good explanation like Right ventricular enlargement
Truly yours,
Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Cardiology
Mayo Clinic MN
Thank you for your health concerns. In people with pulmonary disease, such as yourself (asthma) or others like COPD, sometimes the pressure in the vessels of the lungs can increase and as a compensatory mechanism, the right ventricle (which pumps blood into your lungs) suffers some hypertrophy (enlargement) to compensate for that extra effort. As long as the right ventricular function is noted to be normal and no progression is seen in interval examinations (let say an Echo in 2-3 years) then I would not be overtly concerned; the right bundle issue is related to the increase in size of the right ventricle: the electrical wires of the heart travel within the muscle of the heart and sometimes when the heart cells grow, they can "block" the electrical conduction of the heart; we accept currently right bundle branch block as a benign condition, especially if we have a good explanation like Right ventricular enlargement
Truly yours,
Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Cardiology
Mayo Clinic MN
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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