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Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. The heart loses its ability to pump blood and, in some instances, heart rhythm is disturbed,
leading to irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias. Usually, the exact cause of the muscle damage is never found.
Cardiomyopathy differs from many other heart disorders in a couple of ways. First, it is fairly uncommon, affecting about 50,000 Americans.
However, the condition is a leading reason for heart transplantation.
Second, unlike many other forms of heart disease that affect middle-age and older persons, cardiomyopathy can, and often does, occur in the
young. The condition tends to be progressive and sometimes worsens fairly quickly.
Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy
There are
various
types of
cardiomyopathy,
which fall
into two
major caregories: "ischmetic" and "nonischmetic" cardiomyopathy.
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Ischmetic
cardiomyopathy
typically
refers
to heart
muscle
damage
that
results
from
coronary
artery
disease,
such
as heart
attack.
This
type
of cardiomyopathy
is discussed
under
heart
attack.
-
Nonischemic cardiomyopathy consists of several forms, and the three main types are covered in this section. They are: dilated, hypertrophic,
and restrictive. The name of each describes the nature of its muscle damage.
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