2006-11-22 07:31:33 · 4 answers · asked by Paul J 1 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Heart Diseases
Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease", is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium (i.e., the actual heart muscle) for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia and/or sudden cardiac death.[1]
Cardiomyopathies can generally be categorized into two groups, based on World Health Organization guidelines: extrinsic cardiomyopathies and intrinsic cardiomyopathies.
see link for more details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiomyopathy
2006-11-22 07:35:46 · answer #1 · answered by zigzag 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As many have already explained here, cardiomyopathy is a diagnosed disease/condition of the heart/heart muscle.
What is then involved is having a definitive diagnosis as to what type of cardiomyopathy a person has and there are literally multiple types.
In my particular condition it is called congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular arrhythmias. Broken down in layman's terms it means this:
congenital: I was born with it
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: I have a thickened heart wall and a muscular mass in my left ventricle
with left ventricular arrhythmias: my left ventricale causes me to have an irregular heart rhythm.
Considering I was never suppose to live to see past the age of two, (and my twin brother passed away the day after our first birthday and he was was the stronger of the two of us) and I was never suppose to be able to have children of my own and I have been blessed with two beautiful and healthy girls (which was scary as heart problems run very prevalent in my family) which with each pregnancy it actually improved some aspects of my condition...and the fact that I'm still here is a miracle so I thank God and the great cardiologists I've had all my life.
2006-11-24 11:28:22 · answer #2 · answered by ravenelf725 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Im from cardiology department.
Zigzag has explain it already; the answer is correct.
Its not common to have cardiomyopathy, most patients have LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy) , which is means the heart muscle getting bigger because of high blood pressure.
Echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart) will give patients the results whether they have cardiomyopathy
2006-11-22 23:59:21 · answer #3 · answered by AlisonJonshon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cardio - heart
myo - muscle
pathos - illness, disease
cardiomyopathy - heart muscle disease
There are several forms of heart muscle disease, this term does not refer to only one.
2006-11-22 15:42:53 · answer #4 · answered by Allabor 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋