Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection
Hypertrophy, or overgrowth of an organ results from increased use and increased supply of nutriment. The hypertrophy may be a healthy development, as, for example, in the muscular tissue of an athlete; or it may be the result of an attempt to compensate the mischief produced in some diseased process, as in the hypertrophy of the heart in certain forms of cardiac disease; or the term may be applied to the increase in size of an organ produced by morbid growth within it, as in hypertrophy of the liver, thyroid gland, etc.