Just been to pick up my results of a heart MRI, after having been admitted twice last year for chest pains and breathlessness (which i still have).

My Doctor says that my results are normal,and gave me a printout.

The things that don’t look ‘normal’ to me are the LVEDVE, which is 197mls (when normal range says to be 77-195) so that looks to be on the high side. I must admit that i don’t really know what this means thou.

Also is says that I have a mildly dilated left artial area, at 28cm2. Now i’ve googled this, and this does not look too flash.

My question is on a forum frequented by supposed experts on everything from tyre choices to directional speaker cabling is: should I 1)go and get a second opinion, or is there somewhere where doctors would read the normal ranges and give me the exact same answer as my doctor. Or 2) just accept the diagnosis, kick back and have another beer, after all life’s too short.

“My Doctor says that my results are normal,and gave me a printout”

“Now i’ve googled this”

“Is there a doctor in the house?”

Why do you want to speak to a doctor on here when you don’t trust doctors ?

I didn’t say that I didn’t trust all doctors! What I was asking was that are these things that i should ask another doctor about, or, are these things in fact just ‘normal’and I should just accept my doctors opinion. If you are not a doctor, then I do not believe that you are able to help this time Mr Lynch

I do not believe that you are able to help this time Mr Lynch

Well I wasn’t offering to help. I was just interested in why you want to speak to a doctor on here when you don’t trust doctors…..just curious like.

But you’ve cleared that up now thanks…….it’s not all doctors that you don’t trust. Just your doctor who knows you. You are apparently more happy to trust a stranger on an internet forum – as long as they are a qualified doctor of course 😉

No seriously, joking apart, googling medical stuff is not healthy – my doctor told me that. And I trust him.

I say, my doctor, when i picked up my results was the first time that i have ever met her. You do like to read between the lines and make assumptions to fit in with your view point don’t you.

And why is googleing so dangerous? Doctors can be wrong, they are human. Why would I trust them to get things right 100% of the time. All i wanted to know is if the figures that i quoted are within normal values? I’m sure that any doctor on here would point me toward a publication or similar whereby I could get this supported, or not. My syptoms fit in with the issue found in my results, google says so, so it must be true :0)

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/left-atrial-enlargement.html

Most times when I turn up at my GP’s surgery, I know more about whatever ails me than my doctor does, courtesy of google. Latest example being nasal polyps. I’d already treated the condition with the meds she recommended for two weeks, so I sought a second opinion (and was cured).

I suggest you do the same; no harm done and in your case, probably a little more serious than my nose-aids.

You do like to read between the lines and make assumptions to fit in with your view point don’t you.

Don’t have a pop at me** …..I’m not making any assumptions. You’re explaining and I’m listening.

Why is googling so dangerous? Well I didn’t say that it was dangerous – that’s you reading between the lines. Googling medical stuff isn’t healthy for obvious reasons – it causes people unnecessary worry. Whatever the issues or symptoms, google will always find you at least one possible answer which suggests a serious condition.

Sure, doctors can be wrong, they are human, and you can’t trust them to get things right 100% of the time. But if you feel your doctor might have overlooked something, how about as a starting point, discussing it first with them ?

Good luck btw, I can understand that unexplained chest pains must be the cause of some concern. I’m sure it would worry me.

** although on the plus side, it does guarantee that your thread is bounced.

Large Left atrium doesn’t necessarily mean very much -rather more dilation than that can increase your risk of Atrial Fibrillation – and some of the dimensions may depend on how fit you are. Endurance athletes may also have bigger LA and LV dimensions.

The key things are what your LV ejection fraction is ( should be >50% and ideally >60%) ) that there are no “regional wall motion abnormalities” – and that there was no sign of perfusion abnormalities.

One problem with numerical medical reports is that they may be standardised on a population which may not be appropriate for you…

usual warnings re medical advice on the internet apply – and I am happier looking at echo/cardiac ct/ct angio reports than cardiac MRI..

and I am happier looking at echo/cardiac ct/ct angio reports than cardiac MRI

Just out of interest, why?

Have they said what is causing the continuing chest pain and breathlessness, or is it all being put down to your dilated atrium?

If you are not happy, which I wouldn’t be as symptoms are persisting, seek another opinion.

Just out of interest, why?

Can’t speak for Stoatsbrother, but in my case because cardiac MRI is a relatively new technique and therefore only tends to be available in specialised units hence I am not familiar with it and don’t feel comfortable with my interpretation of the results if they come to me, whereas echo and the CT investigations have been around for a bit longer and I am more familiar/comfortable with the information they can give me. Not my speciality though.

Thanks Stoatsbrother and ratadog!

The key things are what your LV ejection fraction is ( should be >50% and ideally >60%)

This is 67% for me, is that ok then?

I also had a echo, that showed that my heart was a little larger than normal on the left side, but nothing grossly abnormal.

I have a lung function test next Friday. I am not sure what this involves yet. I had a heart, lung stress test on a treadmill. This didn’t seem to show anything thou, as i got the hospital record 😀 Saying this, they didn’t even give me a lolly pop.

The issue is that when i walk up stairs, from rest i almost (and have done) passed out, although only for a second or 2. My BP is fine, but i get very short of breath when moving from rest. Once up and going i’m ok thou.

Thanks for the input thou. I think i’ll take my results from the MRI to the Lung Function test and see what they say, you never know.

No doctor here, but have a father and brother with heart issues. If you can work up to a good score on a stress test but having problems with ramping up to raised efforts from rest, is it something to do with nerves not calling for extra effort quick enough from the heart, seem to recall my brother had something similar with AF, eventually got it sorted with zapping from up an artery to burn out a couple of misbehaving nerves, I think that’s the medical term.

😆 Thanks midlife! Yer, that’s what i kinda thought. It seems that my heart doesn’t kick in quite quick enough. The doctors are ruling out anything obvious first I think, before they look into nerves and anything else.

bullheart – what the man said – outside very big units, few places have all of Cardiac MRI, Cardiac CT (both of which require special software packages) echo, stress echo and Coronary Angiography.

My patients who need cardiac MRI go up to London for it.

I’ll probably get flamed for this, but I have an inherant suspicion of GP’s ability/willingness to actually get to the root of the problem.

All too often they seem to dismiss ailments as the simplest solution, without further investigation.

A prime example was a friend/work colleague of Mrs STR’s – in her mid 40’s and repeatedly went to the doctors with rectal bleeding and stomach pains. She was repeatedly diagnosed with IBS & piles, despite insisting that she though something was wrong.

Eventually when it was too late, she was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and 6 months later was no longer with us.

That’s not very good at all, is it? And goes very clearly against guidelines which quite clearly emphasise that IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion.

But it isn’t a reason to distrust every single GP is it? Unless you think every single Policeman is corrupt, every single teacher a paedophile and every single Mountain Biker a selfish muppet? A few are, and sometimes – just as if you get the run around at your LBS – you need to go to a different one. That’s not putting the blame on her by the way – just a suggestion.