Clinical and Experimental Studies on Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

CARDIOMYOPATHY, a heart-muscle disorder of unknown cause, can be classified as hypertrophic or congestive on the basis of the functional abnormalities.¹ According to Goodwin and Oakley, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by diastolic failure of the left ventricle due to a loss of its normal distensibility, with slow ventricular filling, rigidity of the hypertrophied chamber and increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, the height of which marks the severity and extensiveness of myocardial involvement; systolic function is normal.¹ Congestive cardiomyopathy, on the other hand, is characterized by poor systolic function with decreased left ventricular ejectile force, low cardiac output, congestive heart failure, . . .