Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy is a cardiovascular condition that primarily affects the heart muscles or myocardium, making them stiff, thickened, or enlarged and causing scar tissue. This results in the inability of the organ to pump enough blood effectively for the body. In time, the disease can weaken the heart, ultimately leading to its eventual failure. Some of the symptoms of cardiomyopathy are fatigue, heart palpitations, dyspnea, edema in the ankles, calves, or legs, syncope, and pulmonary edema.
Generally, medical practitioners categorize the condition based on its cause. The two categories are ischemic cardiomyopathy and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. But there are instances where the cause is idiopathic. The risk factors that might make individuals more susceptible to cardiomyopathy are autoimmune diseases, high cholesterol, hemochromatosis, sarcoidosis, endocrine disorders, family history, pregnancy, and heart attacks.
The treatment of the condition generally focuses on managing the symptoms more than curing them. They also slow down its progression. Some recommendations patients may receive from their healthcare providers are medication, arrhythmia-corrective devices, improving blood flow through specific devices, and surgical procedures like a heart transplant for more severe cases.
