What echocardiographic finding is associated with preload?

Dilatation is the echocardiographic finding most closely associated with preload, which is the initial stretching of the cardiac myocytes prior to contraction. Preload is influenced by the volume of blood returning to the heart; as this volume increases, the heart chambers, particularly the ventricles, stretch to accommodate the incoming blood. This stretching can lead to an increase in chamber size, referred to as dilatation.

In a clinical context, when there is increased preload due to factors such as fluid overload or heart failure, the ventricles may dilate in response to the heightened blood volume. This dilatation is a direct physiological adaptation that enables the heart to maintain adequate cardiac output despite the increased volume. It is important to monitor this finding in echocardiography, as significant dilatation can indicate underlying heart dysfunction or volume overload conditions.

Other options such as hypertrophy, stenosis, and thickening may indicate changes related to afterload, pressure overload, or structural heart disease, but they do not directly respond to changes in preload in the same manner as dilatation does.