Cardiomyopathy is a progressive dysfunction of cardiac muscles or cardio-myocardium, leading to the functional loss of heart.
People suffering from cardiomyopathy are mostly associated with progressive weakening of the heart muscles, leading to an inability to pump oxygenated blood rest of the body and may lead to heart failure.
There are two different types of cardiomyopathies, however, in both cases, the efficacy of the heart to pump oxygen-rich blood to different organs of the body is drastically reduced.
In rare cases of cardiomyopathies, the blood can be stagnated in the heart forming clots, which can then eventually break to enter into the circulation to lodge in an artery that may lead to the stroke.
Risk Factors
- Diabetes, chronic kidney disorders
- Long term chronic high blood pressure
- Tissue damage due to repetitive heart attack
- Cardiac arrhythmia
- Structural as well as functional defects in heart valves
- Complications associated with pregnancy
- Nutritional deficiency, anemia etc.
Signs And Symptoms
- Breathlessness, shortness of breath
- Swelling in the legs, ankles, and feet
- Excessive bloating in the abdomen
- Asymptomatic cough, while in a sleeping position
- Chest discomfort, pressure
- Arrhythmia
Diagnosis And Treatment
Diagnosis includes a patient’s medical history, blood tests, physical examination, and analysis of electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, treadmill test cardiac MRI and CT scan.
Medications include prescribing steroidal medicines to reduce signs and symptoms associated with the conditions. Certain non-surgical interventions like septal ablation and radiofrequency ablation can be employed to fix issues like clotting, abnormal rhythm etc.
