"cindys" wrote:
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I'm not a vet, but I am a doctor. (I'm also not a cardiologist), but
here's your translation:

"Echocardiogram shows mild mitral regurgitation and aortic insufficiency.
Left ventrical wall on
brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look
normal. Fractional shortening within normal limits."

The heart is composed of four chambers, a left atrium, left ventricle,
right atrium, and right ventricle. The aorta is the major artery (has
thick muscle walls) of the body through which blood flows from the left
ventricle to other organs in the body. On each side of the heart, the
atrium is on top and the ventricle is on the bottom and blood is pumped
from the atrium through the ventricle.

Between each atrium and ventricle is a valve, which is supposed to close
everytime the heart contracts to prevent the blood from backflowing
("regurgitating") from the ventricle back into the atrium. The aorta also
has a valve to prevent backflow of blood from the aorta back into the left
ventricle. Sometimes, these valves develop a little problem in that they
don't close completely (i.e. become "insufficient"), and there is a small
amount of backflow of blood. The result is that the heart has to work
harder to pump the same amount of blood. Any time the heart has to work
harder, the heart itself (which is a giant muscle) responds by increasing
in size (hypertrophy). Cardiomyopathy is a generic medical word meaning
disease of heart muscle. "Fractional shortening" is the difference in size
of the heart between when it's full of blood and when it's squeezed.

In a human, the condition you describe above can be mild or severe. If
mild, the doctor will generally tell the patient not to worry and go on
with his life. The patient may notice that he tires more easily. When it's
severe, a cardiologist would probably want to do open-heart surgery and
replace the leaky valve. I've never heard of this type of procedure being
done on a cat, but at any rate, it sounds like your kitty's situation is
mild and not severe.

My thought is that you should keep an eye on the situation, maybe have the
echocardiogram repeated in a couple of years, but that you probably don't
have any reason to worry at this time.

But, please consult a veterinian. I am not a veterinarian nor am I a
cardiologist. What I have stated above is only my own understanding and
opinion.
Good luck.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.



You rock, Cindy. That was fabulous. When my doctor thought I had mitral
valve regurgitation, he said, over time your heart might enlarge,
but otherwise you will probably be fine. (This is a very common condition,
one in three people have it I think he said? I was trying to get out of PE
100, because in order to graduate college they were going to make me run
three miles in 30 minutes! He would not let me out of it, and I completed
the course successfully --at age 32--and found I really like running and
weight training.) The really interesting thing to me, is that nobody has
ever
heard that "murmur" again. One doctor said, "maybe his instrument was
just really sensitive. ??