Cardiomyopathy refers to a group of heart muscle disorders. These disorders may affect people of various ages and races and have a variety of causes, symptoms, and treatments.
Cardiomyopathy is a term that describes conditions of the heart muscle. Cardiomyopathy causes scar tissue and stiffens, expands, or thickens your heart. Consequently, your heart is unable to effectively pump blood throughout your body.
Dilated cardiomyopathy, the most common type of cardiomyopathy, occurs when the heart muscle enlarges, or dilates, and becomes too weak to effectively pump blood. It may be inherited or the outcome of coronary artery disease.
When your heart walls thicken and restrict blood from flowing through your heart, you have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is thought to be inherited. This makes your heart rigid and puts you at risk for electrical problems. Acquired hypertension-related cardiomyopathy may be caused by long-term high blood pressure, age, diabetes, or thyroid illness.
Although this is an uncommon kind of cardiomyopathy, it is the primary cause of sudden mortality among young athletes. Fat and additional fibrous tissue replace the muscle of the right ventricle in this kind of hereditary cardiomyopathy. This leads to irregular cardiac rhythms and problems with the right ventricle’s function.
Restrictive cardiomyopathythe means ventricles stiffen and can’t relax enough to fill up with blood. Possible reasons include heart disease, scarring of the heart, and cardiac amyloid, which is common after a heart transplant.
The following are some common symptoms:
Vomiting, diarrhea, trouble eating and breathing, fussiness, and poor development are common in babies and young children.
In addition, You may have swelling in your stomach, hands, legs, and feet if your cardiomyopathy has caused heart failure. If you have cardiomyopathy while pregnant, you may have these symptoms as well.
The reason for cardiomyopathy is often unknown. However, in some people, it is caused by another condition (acquired) or handed on from a parent (inherited).
The following are some of the health issues or activities that might lead to acquired cardiomyopathy:
Cardiac catheterization is a diagnostic and treatment procedure for some heart problems. A catheter, a long, thin, flexible tube, is inserted into a blood vessel in your arm, groin, upper thigh, or neck during cardiac catheterization. After that, the catheter is threaded to your heart.
Some kinds of cardiomyopathy are diagnosed by a cardiac biopsy, also known as a myocardial biopsy. Your doctor will take a little portion of your heart muscle for this test to check for symptoms of cardiomyopathy. This can be accomplished via a cardiac catheterization procedure.
Several blood tests, including those to examine kidney, thyroid, and liver function as well as iron levels, may be performed.
B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a protein produced in the heart, can be measured with a simple blood test. BNP levels in the blood may rise as a result of heart failure, which is a typical consequence of cardiomyopathy.
Coronary angiography is a procedure that uses a contrast dye, usually containing iodine, and X-ray images to detect plaque-caused blockages in the coronary arteries. Your heart is deprived of oxygen and vital nutrients due to blockages.
This treatment is used to diagnose heart problems or to follow up on aberrant results from tests like an electrocardiogram (EKG) or a stress test. Coronary angiography can help your doctors arrange your therapy if you’re having a heart attack.
Heart drugs can help with blood flow, symptom control, and treating underlying issues. Blood thinners like warfarin, beta-blockers like propranolol, and cholesterol-lowering medicines are also options.
Alcohol is injected by a long, thin tube (catheter) into the artery giving blood to a small part of the thickened heart muscle. This permits blood to flow freely throughout the affected area.
Long, flexible tubes (catheters) are guided via blood veins to the heart to treat abnormal heart rhythms. The catheter tips have electrodes that send electricity to a small patch of cardiac tissue that is generating abnormal heart rhythm.
Interrupted cardiac rhythms are treated using pacemakers or implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). These gadgets keep track of your heartbeat. When an arrhythmia occurs, they send electrical impulses to your heart.
Some gadgets aid in the efficient pumping of blood by the heart. The contractions between the left and right sides of the heart are controlled using cardiac resynchronization treatment (CRT) devices. Your heart is assisted in pumping blood with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).
Several types of surgeries to treat cardiomyopathy include:
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