There is a powerful and heaving impulse at each beat

There is a powerful and heaving impulse at each beat

There is a powerful and heaving impulse at each beat

Symptoms. In hypertrophy of the heart, in addition to the usual symptoms manifested in organic diseases of the heart, there is a powerful and heaving impulse at each beat, which may be felt on the left side, often also on the right. These pulsations are regular, and when full and strong at the jaw there is a tendency to active congestion of the capillary vessels, which frequently give rise to local inflammation, active hemorrhage, etc. If the pulse is small and feeble at the jaw, we may conclude that there is some obstacle to the escape of the blood from the left ventricle into the aorta, which has given rise to the hypertrophy. In case of hypertrophy with dilatation, the impulse is not only powerful and heaving, but it is diffused over the whole region of the heart, and the normal sounds of the heart are greatly increased in intensity. Percussion reveals an enlarged area of dullness, while the impulse is usually much stronger than normal.