The Hypertrophied Heart may weigh as much as 1000 or 1500 grm. in extreme conditions, more commonly from 700 to 800 grm. Three forms of cardiac hypertrophy may be described:

I. Simple hypertrophy, in which there is an increase in the thickness of the muscular wall without any diminution in the capacity of the cavity.

II. Excentric, in which there is increase in the size of the cavity and in the thickness of the walls.

Fig. 135. - Atheroma of the Aorta (Bollinger).

III. Concentric, in which there is thickening of the wall with diminution in the cavity. This is probably a pure post-mortem finding, being an arrest in systole of a hyper-trophied heart.