Concentric hypertrophy is a hypertrophic growth of a

hollow organ In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a ...

without overall enlargement, in which the walls of the organ are thickened and its capacity or volume is diminished. Sarcomeres are added in parallel, as for example occurs in

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, or HOCM when obstructive) is a condition in which the heart becomes thickened without an obvious cause. The parts of the heart most commonly affected are the interventricular septum and the ventricles. This r ...

. In the heart, concentric hypertrophy is related to increased pressure overload of the heart, often due to

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and/or aortic stenosis. The consequence is a decrease in ventricular compliance and diastolic dysfunction, followed eventually by ventricular failure and

systolic dysfunction Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. Laplace's law for a sphere states wall stress (T) is proportionate to the product of the transmural pressure (P) and cavitary radius (r) and inversely proportionate to wall thickness (W): In response to the pressure overload left ventricular wall thickness markedly increases—while the cavitary radius remains relatively unchanged. These compensatory changes, termed "concentric hypertrophy," reduce the increase in wall tension observed in aortic stenosis.

References

Anatomical pathology Physical exercise Exercise physiology Tissues (biology) Muscular system Cardiomegaly {{Pathology-stub