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Question:
What has caused my EKGs to change over time, and must I ease up on my exercise?
As a teenager with a heart murmur, I had to have EKGs in order to play on sport teams. I found a note in my medical file that I had an enlarged left ventricle. I am now 74 and a recent checkup indicates I no longer have an enlarged ventricle, but I now have an enlarged right atrium. What caused the disproportionate change and is there reason to ease up on my exercise? I am quite active as a runner, weight training and tennis seven days a week.
submitted by Warren from Lincoln, California on 2/13/2014
Answer:
by Texas Heart Institute cardiologist, Scott R. Sherron, MD 
The findings you describe could clearly be benign. Overall, exercise is as close as we come to a fountain of youth. It helps the heart, the bones & even staves off dementia. However, it would be important to have a full evaluation of your current cardiac status. It is particularly important to realize that up to 20% of patients with significant blockages are completely asymptomatic.
Therefore, following your echo findings & having at least a screening treadmill would be important.
Hope that helps.
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Updated February 2014
