Adult Echocardiography Practice Exam

The presence of enlarged atria with normal or reduced ventricular size is a hallmark finding in restrictive cardiomyopathy. In this condition, the heart muscle becomes rigid and less elastic, which restricts the filling of the ventricles during diastole. As a result, the ventricles may not be able to accommodate normal volumes of blood, often leading to a lower than normal ventricular size, especially in the later stages of the disease.

Simultaneously, due to the inability of the heart to fill properly, the atria frequently become enlarged as they work harder to push blood into the stiff ventricles. This is often a consequence of chronically elevated pressures in the atria, resulting from the impaired ventricular filling dynamics.

In contrast, the other options do not represent the typical findings associated with restrictive cardiomyopathy. Normal-sized atria and enlarged ventricles could suggest other forms of cardiomyopathy, while thickened ventricular walls might indicate hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and increased ventricular contractility is more consistent with conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or pressures overload, rather than the restrictive filling seen in restrictive cardiomyopathy.