introduction: differentiating between ischemic cardiomyopathy (icm) and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (idcm) is important as coronary revascularization can improve prognosis in the ischemic subgroup. due to inherent problems of coronary angiography in patients with depressed ejection fraction (ef) introducing a noninvasive tool to diagnose those who will benefit from angiography seems to be...

Introduction: Differentiating between ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is important as coronary revascularization can improve prognosis in the ischemic subgroup. Due to inherent problems of coronary angiography in patients with depressed ejection fraction (EF) introducing a noninvasive tool to diagnose those who will benefit from angiography seems...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of myocarditis and cardiotropic viral infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated cardiomyopathy is unknown in Africa. METHODS Between April 2002 and December 2007, we compared the prevalence of myocarditis and cardiotropic viral genomes in HIV-associated cardiomyopathy cases with HIV-negative idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients (i.e. negative c...

Left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) is one of the most important complications of myocardial infarction LVA is strictly defined as a distinct area of abnormal left ventricular diastolic contour with systolic dyskinesia or paradoxical bulging. LVA usually results from myocardial infarction. Other rare aetiologies of LVA include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Chagas' disease, sarcoidosis, congenital LV...

background: serum trace element alteration has been reported in dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy. the reports were controversial. we have studied serum zinc level in cardiomyopathy patients in northern province of mazandaran and compared them with healthy volunteers. methods: serum zinc level was measured in 30 ischemic and 18 dilated cardiomyopathy patients against 27 healthy volunteers. it...

Cardiac interstitial fibrosis may contribute to ventricular dysfunction and the prognosis of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. The objective of the present study was to determine if total myocardial collagen content and collagen type III/I (III/I ratio) mRNAs differ in hypertensive, alcoholic, and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy subjects. Echocardiography and exercise cardiopulmonary test...

A histopathological index of contractility failure, which was reported to be accurate for the diagnosis of idiopathic dilated or congestive cardiomyopathy in Japan, was used to assess endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 41 Dutch patients with suspected dilated cardiomyopathy. The calculated index had a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 68% for idiopathic dilated or congestive cardiomyo...

OBJECTIVE To compare pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength in patients with ischaemic and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, well matched for indices of heart failure. METHODS The study involved 30 patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and 30 with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. The groups were well matched for age, weight, and clinical severity of cardiac dysfunction as asse...

BACKGROUND Little is known about the outcome of patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy in comparison to that of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in the contemporary era. OBJECTIVE To compare the outcome of chagasic patients with chronic systolic heart failure secondary to Chagas cardiomyopathy with that observed in patients with IDC in the contemporary era. METHODS A total of 35...