KARDIOMYOPATHIEN

Abstract

The suspicion of a cardiomyopathy should lead to the search for a basic disease that causes a direct pathological change of the myocardial cells and thus not only caused by disturbed hemodynamics. If such a disease is not found, the addition 'idiopathic' indicates the admission that the cause is not known, and efforts are made to arrive at a classification via characteristic findings, for example hypertrophy. This classification is a help when resorting to symptomatic treatment and thus finds its justification. However, it should not satisfy the physician, whose purpose should remain the tracing of the causes.