Research Paper On Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited disease that affects the cardiac muscle of the heart, causing the walls of the heart to thicken and become stiff. [1] On a cellular level, the sarcomere

Systolic heart failure is characterized by enlarged ventricles that are unable to fully contract to pump enough blood into circulation to adequately perfuse tissues. The enlargement in ventricles is due to an increased end-systolic volume. If the heart is not able to sufficiently pump the expected volume of blood with each contraction, which in a normal healthy heart is 50-60%, there will be a residual volume left in the heart after every pump (Heart Healthy Women, 2012). With the next period of filling, the heart will receive the same amount of blood volume from the atria combined with that residual volume from the previous contraction. This causes the ventricles to have to dilate to accommodate this increase in volume. The dilation causes the walls of the ventricles to stretch and become thin and weak. Also the myocardium, the muscle layer of the heart, will stretch and not be able to adequately make a full and forceful enough contraction to push blood from the ventricles (Lehne, 2010).

As this disease progresses and the workload of the heart is consistently increased, ventricular hypertrophy occurs. At first, the hypertrophied heart muscles will increase contractility, thus increasing cardiac output; however, as hypertrophy of the ventricular myocardial cells continues, it begins to have poor contractility, requires more oxygen to perform, and has poor circulation from the coronary arteries. This can result in heart tissue ischemia and lead into cardiac dysrhythmias (Lewis et al. 2014, 768).

As cardiomyopathy progresses, the heart becomes weaker and is less able to pump blood normally. This results in heart failure. There are different types of cardiomyopathy- hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart muscle cells enlarge which causes the thickening of the left ventricular wall. Although the ventricle size stays normal, the thickening makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. In some cases, the septum also thickens and expands to the left ventricle which causes a blockage of blood flow out of the left ventricle. The cause of the disease is unknown but hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is usually caused by changes in the genes in heart muscle proteins. It can also develop due to

Cardiomyopathy (i.e. "heart muscle disease") is the failure of the heart muscle - myocardium for whatever reason and there are many different reasons. Cardiomyopathy may be dangerous since victims of this disease are at risk of certain cardiac rupture as well as irregular heartbeat. In fact, Cardiomyopathy is one of, if not the most, dangerous disease that is connected to the heart. (Adelmann 2010).

Although it is commonly used to describe individuals with heart failure, congestive heart failure is a specific type of heart failure. Congestive heart failure is a condition where heart muscles become less effective in pumping blood, as a result insufficient amounts of oxygen and nutrients are circulated around the body to sustain the body’s needs. The decrease in effectiveness is due to damage in the heart muscles and its inability to heal itself. This causes an increase in pressure in the heart as well as slowing the rate at which blood is able to circulate through the heart. To compensate for this, the heart responds by thickening and stiffening the main pumping chambers of the heart, known as the ventricles, or by stretching the chambers

There are two types of heart failure: systolic heart failure and diastolic heart failure. In systolic heart failure, left ventricle have difficulty contracting and ejecting blood into the circulation, which causes reduced left ventricular fraction. On the other hand, diastolic heart failure has a slow and delayed relaxation and chamber rigidity increase, which then causes inadequate filling of blood and slows down the ability to eject blood efficiently. Calcium is not

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic disease that causes the heart muscle to become thickened (Maron, 2015). According to the Mayo Clinic (n.d.), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic disorder; however, environmental or lifestyle factors may influence how and when the disease appears in individuals.

History: What is heart failure? Heart failure is a condition in which the heart has lost its mechanical ability to adequately pump oxygenated blood out of the heart to the body’s peripheral tissues and organ systems; therefore it cannot meet the body’s perfusion needs. Heart failure can generally be divided into left or right ventricular failure and its etiologies may include myocardial, coronary, or valvular disease. The body’s decreased perfusion can lead to reduced exercise ability/endurance, general weakness/fatigue, and shortness of breath. Some additional signs of heart failure may include pulmonary edema, pedal edema and JVD.

Cardiomyopathy refers to diseases of the heart muscle (NHLBI, ___) In cardiomyopathy; the heart muscle becomes enlarged, thick and rigid. The disease causes the heart to become weak and less able to pump blood through the body and maintain a normal electrical rhythm. His will lead to heart failure, or irregular heartbeats called arrhythmias. Heart failure causes fluid to build up in the lungs, ankles, feet or abdomen.

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are defects in the heart that are present from birth and affect 8 in every 1,000 newborns each year (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2011). Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common congenital disease of the heart (O’Hanlon and Pennell, 2009) and the most common cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD) among apparently healthy athletes and younger generations (Maron, 1995; Maron and Maron, 2013). HCM is a condition in which there is abnormal thickening of the myocardium in the left ventricle (LV), also know as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), where the heart is not dilated and there is no other systemic or cardiac cause (Maron et al 2003; Maron et al 2006). Although many patients are asymptomatic to HCM, some patient’s will present with, or develop progressive exercise intolerance, heart failure symptoms and SCD (Keren et al 2008).

The patient’s chart did not state which type of cardiomyopathy he had a history of, but there are four types of cardiomyopathies. Dilated cardiomyopathy is when both heart ventricles are dilated and the heart’s pumping function is impaired because the ventricular walls stretch out to very thin widths (Dechant, 2016). Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is where the walls of the ventricles thicken and grow inwards, and could impair the outflow of blood when the heart contracts (Dechant, 2016). Restrictive cardiomyopathy is when the ventricles stiffen in elasticity, restricting the inflow of blood into the ventricles at rest (Dechant, 2016). Finally, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy could involve either ventricle and is when the myocardial tissue is replaced by fatty tissue, impairing overall ventricular function (Dechant, 2016).

The third defect is Right Ventricular Hypertrophy, which causes a thicker than normal right ventricle. Right ventricular hypertrophy occurs because the heart pumping action becomes harder creating an increase in the hearts work load. Subsequently, this causes a thicker and more muscular heart muscle. This defect causes also causes a reduction in oxygen flowing to the body. The left side of the heart may be underdeveloped from increased work load on the right side of the heart.

In the earlier stages of heart failure, the body will try to compensate by stretching the ventricular muscle to its limit so that it can contract stronger and pump more blood. Consequently, the heart muscle will thicken because of the demand to pump harder. In this condition, the volume accommodated by the ventricle decreases and the contractility of the muscle lessens. In an

Heart is the only pumping organ of the whole body. It has the most essential function of pumping blood throughout the body. Through blood various energy products that includes, ATP, nutrition and oxygen are supplied to whole body. But if in case the heart losses its function of pumping, such condition is known as Congestive Heart Failure. During this stage the blood leaves the heart at very slow pace thereby increasing the pressure in heart. Lack of pumping function will lead to decreased blood flow and this will cause lack of nutrients and oxygen to the required tissues. Since more and more blood starts to accumulate in heart, the walls of heart tend to stretch and become thick and stiff to accommodate the extra blood being poured into its chambers. But eventually this modification will create a hurdle in pumping action of heart. In later stages kidneys, which normally function to excrete extra fluid from body, starts to retain most of the water. This extra water gets filled up in interstitial spaces in ankles, feet, legs, lungs and many other organs of the body causing congestion, hence this condition is termed as congestive heart failure.