OBJECTIVE To estimate the total number of patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy in Japan and the prevalence of the disorder. DESIGN A nationwide epidemiological survey. SETTING Hospitals selected randomly from among all hospitals in Japan. PATIENTS Patients presenting with any of the three types of idiopathic cardiomyopathy: dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and restr...

Definition and Classification The cardiomyopathies are a diverse group of myocardial diseases that are characterized by chronic ventricular dysfunction. The clinical classification of cardiomyopathy is based on hemodynamic and echocardiographic abnormalities, and consists of dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Recently, arrhythmogenic right ventr...

Despite careful clinical, noninvasive, and hemodynamic assessment of patients with constrictive/restrictive physiology, the differentiation of restrictive cardiomyopathy from constrictive pericarditis remains difficult. We examined the role of right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy in defining the underlying process in 54 patients with evidence of constrictive/restrictive physiology, including...

Pediatric cardiomyopathies are a group of conditions that are characterized by ventricular dilatation as seen in dilated cardiomyopathy or ventricular constriction as seen with restrictive cardiomyopathy and constrictive pericarditis. Patients might develop congestive heart failure. Echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging are the main diagnostic modalities for cardiomyopathies in childr...

It is difficult to distinguish between restrictive cardiomyopathy and constrictive pericarditis on the basis of clinical findings and simple investigation. Cardiac catheterisation has been the reference standard for diagnosis but even this does not always permit an accurate distinction. A Summagraphics digitiser and Prime 750 computer system were used to digitise the echocardiograms of 15 patie...

Systolic time intervals in 15 patients with constrictive pericarditis and seven patients with restrictive cardiomyopathy were compared in order to assess their value in the differential diagnosis of the two disorders. Clinical examination had failed to make the distinction. Right heart catheterization was helpful in diagnosing restriction but failed to differentiate patients with constrictive p...

Doppler ultrasound recordings of mitral, tricuspid, aortic, and pulmonary flow velocities, and their variation with respiration, were recorded in 12 patients with a restrictive cardiomyopathy and seven patients with constrictive pericarditis. Twenty healthy adults served as controls. The patients with constrictive pericarditis showed marked changes in left ventricular isovolumic relaxation time...

Tropical endomyocardial fibrosis is a rare entity in the present era. Restrictive cardiomyopathy due to tapioca consumption is very rare, although it has been reported in India, especially in state of Kerala. We report a rare case of restrictive cardiomyopathy secondary to tapioca consumption in a 20-year-old male patient.