Normal Ejection Fraction?

Question

I have been told that a normal ejection fraction was no more than 75% but mine was 79% nothing was ever said by cardiologist i got a copy of the report...i read on the internet that something higher could mean hypertrophy....everything on the echo was structually normal...except mild mitral valve prolapse...should i be worried...i was really anxious during the visit and my heart was racing could this have elevated the EF?

Answer 1

You really have to follow this to understand what's going on with your heart. Come on, it ain't rocket science! Your heart circulates blood through 2 separate systems. The two chambers on top (atriums) are receiving stations for blood. The two lower chambers (ventricles) are pumping stations.
Your left ventricle forces oxygen-rich blood into your arteries, which carry it throughout your body. The blood returns to the right atrium, which passes it down to the right ventricle. The right ventricle pumps this blood to the lungs, where it picks up oxygen. Oxygen-rich blood then returns to the left atrium, which dumps it into the left ventricle, and the cycle repeats. Valves between the chambers prevent "backwash."

When the left ventricle contracts, forcing blood out into the body, it's called "ejection" since it is "ejecting" the blood out into your arteries. Since the big pumper on the lower left is the one that pushes blood throughout your body, that is where they usually measure heart function - the left ventricle.
That's the "ejection" part. The "fraction" part is because that pumping chamber (the left ventricle) never quite manages to pump out all the blood inside it - there's always a little bit left behind that lies around waiting for the next contraction. The amount your left ventricle does pump out per beat is called the "ejection fraction". It's X% (the amount pumped out)
of the total amount of blood in the ventricle per heart beat.
If your heart pumps out 55% or more of the blood in your left ventricle on each beat, you have good heart function. When it falls below 55% on each beat, you're slipping. That means your heart muscle is too weak to force as much blood out on each contraction as it should. Now, if your EF sounds bad, don't despair. Eight years ago, my own EF was 13% and here I sit, typing this web page. ;-) My EF is now much improved.
There is also an ejection fraction for the right ventricle. This measures how well it is pumping blood back to your lungs to pick up oxygen. It is called RVEF and is normally lower than LVEF. Most CHFers will deal mainly with LVEF, or Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction. Around here, that's what we mean by EF.
Hope now that you will not be worried about your Hypertrophy, which has nothing to do with your Mitral prolapse.
You are in perfect shape, and will you stop assessing yourself with those tit bits on the websites.OK
Be happy and enjoy life, give your browser a break.

Answer 2

don't worry about the mitral valve it is normal to have a bit or regurge, they actually build this into artificial valves. if you had hypertrophy, it should have been picked up on the echo, there are also ECG changes associated with it. if there was anything to worry about the cardiologist would have ordered more tests surely, then they get more money, and more holidays. makes sense to me. the question is what symptoms took you to the cardiologist in the first place? and were those issues resolved?

Answer 3

As Loving_Heart said, normal is anything > 55%. A statistically high EF is a *good* thing! It means your heart is contracting much better than average.

Answer 4

Do you know?.........Mitral valve prolapse is not dangerous in most cases. It is asymptomatic and discovered accidentally( as in your case). So, donnot worry.

Answer 5

discuss the results with your cardiologist. this is only a portion of the results. your doctor needs all of them to make a diagnosis.