Cardiomyopathy Health Video

Cardiomyopathy refers to deteriorating in the function of the heart muscle itself, which can lead to further medical difficulties. Learn more about cardiomyopathy, including symptoms and treatment options in this video.

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Dr. Dave Weiland has been practicing cardiology in the Bay Area for 21 years. On top of operating a practive in San Pablo, CA for the past 15 years, Dr. Weiland works with eight other doctors in traveling all around the Bay Area to treat patients everywhere. Dr. Weiland graduated from the Ohio State Medical School in 1981; following that with an additional six years of study at Tufts University. Dr. Weiland received his training in cardiology at the New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and now teaches medical students about cardiology.

DAVE WEILAND: Hi. This is Dr. David Weiland. We're going to talk about cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a large term that refers to any disease of the heart muscle itself. In the Latin "cardio-", heart, and "-myopathy", muscle, so it's disease of the heart muscle. Oftentimes, when we think of cardiomyopathy, we think of a dilated cardiomyopathy or congestive heart failure. However, there are also diseases of the heart muscle where the heart muscle is too strong and those are often lumped into the term "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy" where the heart is too strong to do its job properly. Symptoms of cardiomyopathy usually involve shortness of breath with exertion; occasionally, with a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, one can faint with exertion or get extremely lightheaded. Treatment of cardiomyopathy looks at determining the cause of the cardiomyopathy. The best way to determine the cause, number 1 is to do an echocardiogram of the heart. An echocardiogram will give us a nice picture of the heart and allows us to see if the heart is too weak or too strong, and get an idea of what state the heart muscle was in. Prevention of cardiomyopathy: As far as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, this is usually a disease people are born with, but it can develop with severe high blood pressure. For the dilated cardiomyopathies, again treatment of blood pressure, treatment of underlying causes such as high cholesterol or blocked arteries of the heart can be of that most importance. How to take action: If one is suspected to have a cardiomyopathy, it's best to have an echocardiogram, see a cardiologist, and get appropriate treatment.

Cardiomyopathy Health Video

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