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Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
Restrictive cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart muscle becomes stiff and loses its ability to relax between contractions, impairing the heart's ability to fill with blood. It frequently causes heart block, the inability of the heart to successfully transmit the electrical signals needed to generate a heart beat. Although heart block can be treated by surgically implanting a cardiac pacemaker, treatment of restrictive cardiomyopathy is largely ineffective. Surgery usually is not considered; but a heart transplant may be an option for some people with restrictive cardiomyopathy.
Usually occurring around age 50, restrictive cardiomyopathy affects men and women equally. Typically it is not inherited, but some of the diseases that can cause restrictive cardiomyopathy can be inherited.
In the United States and other industrial nations in temperate climates, restrictive cardiomyopathy is relatively rare, associated with unusual blood or metabolic disorders or radiation therapy to the chest. In tropical regions of Africa, India, South and Central America, and parts of Asia, restrictive cardiomyopathy is a common cause of death associated with the high rates of fibrosis of the tissues of the heart in people living those regions.
Accurate diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy can be difficult because the signs and symptoms are very similar to another heart disease, constrictive pericarditis. Unlike restrictive cardiomyopathy, constrictive pericarditis can be effectively treated with surgery. The distinction between the two conditions can be detected with careful imaging of the heart using echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and/or CT scan, but in some cases cardiac catheterization may be necessary.
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