Overloaded Left Ventricle of the Heart (thyroid, physician, fever, cause)

[Eugene80]

My mother did an EKG which showed several unusual troughs indicative of an overloaded left ventricle. The general physician who did the EKG pointed them out as abnormal and directed us to a cardiologist.

But the cardiologist said that this EKG was "no different from baseline" in her case and that no follow-up action was necessary.

Is this condition something that cardiologists are OK with, and if so why?

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by Eugene80

My mother did an EKG which showed several unusual troughs indicative of an overloaded left ventricle. The general physician who did the EKG pointed them out as abnormal and directed us to a cardiologist.

But the cardiologist said that this EKG was "no different from baseline" in her case and that no follow-up action was necessary.

Is this condition something that cardiologists are OK with, and if so why?

Has your mother had multiple EKGs?

Its possible you misinterpreted what the cardiologist said about "baseline". He may have been referring to your mother's baseline, not what is considered a normal baseline across the population. In other words, he didn't see that anything about her condition had progressed from the time a previous EKG was done. He may have compared them.

[guidoLaMoto]

Originally Posted by Eugene80

My mother did an EKG which showed several unusual troughs indicative of an overloaded left ventricle. ....

The EKG may have shown particularly high voltage so the PMD may have felt evaluation by a cardiologist was in order.

Normal voltage on an EKG is anything less than a certain number (kinda like a temp is only considered "a fever" if it's over 100.5). High voltage may mean the wall of the heart is thickened by prolonged hi BP or valve problems, for instance. An echo cardiogram would tell you for sure.

Other causes of high voltage might be over-active thyroid or just being skinny with "too little padding" between the heart and the EKG wires.

If the cardiologist wasn't impressed, chances are the voltage on the EKG wasn't quite high enough to qualify as Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH).

LVH is not to be confused with "enlarged heart," which can't be detected by an EKG.