Adaptive Hypertrophy
Adaptive hypertrophy is the thickening of the walls of a hollow organ like the urinary bladder, stomach or intestine from medium to long-term outflow obstruction. While the earlier stages of adaptive hypertrophy can have positive effects such as muscular economy and reducing stress, chronic hypertrophy can result in negative effects including death. Studies are currently being done to gauge and investigate the positive and negative effects of adaptive hypertrophy so that doctors and healthcare professionals can gain deeper insight into the causes and treatments for this medical condition. Ultimately, the functional issue of adaptive hypertrophy concerns the functional equilibrium between demand and capacity. When the condition occurs in the heart it is known as myocardial hypertrophy.
