Increased work thrown on to a tissue may produce hypertrophy, but, if this excessive function be kept up, atrophy will follow; even the blacksmith's arm breaks down owing to the hypertrophic muscle fibres becoming markedly atrophied.
There was a family history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in his son Thomas, who died in 1994 aged 31 years.
At least 1 of every 500 people in the UK has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart muscle to grow abnormally thick.
The most important is over-activity of the heart muscle which causes a heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Five years ago, Julian Wort collapsed and died, aged 28, from hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.