*[[Straight back syndrome]] with pancake heart: This can cause a leftward shift of the heart on the chest x-ray. The heart can be "pancaked" or compressed.
*[[Straight back syndrome]] with pancake heart: This can cause a leftward shift of the heart on the chest x-ray. The heart can be "pancaked" or compressed.
*[[Thymus tumor]]
*[[Thymus tumor]]
==Differentiating Cardiomegaly from other Diseases==
In alphabetical order. <ref>Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:77 ISBN 1591032016</ref> <ref>Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:68 ISBN 140510368X</ref>
Synonyms and keywords: pseudo-cardiomegaly; pseudocardiomegaly
Overview
Cardiomegaly must be distinguished from pseudo-cardiomegaly, a scenario in which the apparent size of the heart is artificially increased. Disorders and conditions which falsely increase the apparent size of the heart include straight back syndrome, a disorder in which the heart is "pancaked" or compressed; and obtaining the chest x-ray during expiration at which time the diameter of the lungs is decreased and the relative diameter of the heart and aorta is increased.
Diseases From Which Cardiomegaly Must Be Distinguished
Expiration: If the chest x-ray is obtained during expiration, the lung volume will be decreased and the cardiac size and aortic size will be relatively increased. The traditional metrics used to diagnose cardiomegaly do not apply in this case.
