Hospital News
Cardiomyopathy
What is cardiomyopathy?
Cardiomyopathy is any disease of the heart muscle in which the heart loses its full ability to pump blood. Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy occurs in the sbsence of coronary artery disease and/or heart attacks. There may be multiple causes of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, including viral infections. Sometimes, the exact cause of the muscle disease is never found.
How does cardiomyopathy differ from other heart disorders?
Cardiomyopathy differs from many of the other disorders of the heart in several ways, including:
- it is a leading cause for heart transplantation.
- it can, and often does, occur in young people.
- the condition tends to be progressive and sometimes worsens fairly quickly.
- it can be due to specific causes, and is often associated with diseases involving other organs as well as the heart.
Types of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy
Three types of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy are:
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Also called hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, HOCM; asymmetric septal hypertrophy, ASH; or idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis, IHSS.) - the muscle mass of the left ventricle of the heart is larger than normal. The wall between the two ventricles (septum) becomes enlarged and may obstruct the blood flow from the left ventricle. A heart murmur may be heard.
Other features:
- Most cases are inherited.
- It can affect men and women of all ages, and symptoms can appear in childhood or adulthood
- Symptoms include shortness of breath on exertion, dizziness, fainting, and angina pectoris.
- Some patients experience cardiac arrhythmias, which may lead to sudden death.
Other features:
- This occurs most often in middle-aged people and more often in men than women, but has been diagnosed in people of all ages, including children.
- Patients may develop congestive heart failure.
- Dilated cardiomyopathy can be caused by chronic, excessive consumption of alcohol along with dietary deficiencies.
- It occasionally occurs as a complication of pregnancy and childbirth.
- Other suggested causes are: various infections (mostly viral, which lead to an inflammation of the heart muscle, called myocarditis), toxins, and (rarely) heredity. Sometimes drugs used to treat a different medical condition can damage the heart and produce dilated cardiomyopathy. However, in most cases, a specific cause for the damage is never identified.
Restrictive cardiomyopathy - in this least common type of cardiomyopathy in the US, the myocardium of the ventricles becomes excessively rigid, and the filling of the ventricles with blood between heart beats is impaired.
Other features:
- It usually results from another disease, such as amyloidosis or hemochromatosis, which affects multiple organs in the body.
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy does not appear to be inherited, but some of the diseases that lead to the condition are genetically transmitted.
- Symptoms may include fatigue, swelling of the extremities, and difficulty breathing on exertion.
