harka

Hi there,

So you've been diagnosed with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, but you said you had a heart attack--those two things don't necessarily go together. When you had your heart attack, did you have an angiogram which showed a blockage in any of your coronary arteries? I'll explain why this is confusing. There are two main categories of dilated cardiomyopathy: ischemic cardiomyopathy and everything else. The end result of these cardiomyopathies is the same, namely, the heart becomes like a thin walled and inflated "grocery bag" which doesn't have the same ability to pump as a normal, muscular heart. With ischemic cardiomyopathy, the route to the "grocery bag" happens because of large areas of heart which have been damaged because of infarction. Infarction is when tissue dies because it doesn't receive blood flow. This is what happens when one of the coronary arteries is blocked with a clot due to a ruptured plaque and the heart muscle downstream dies due to lack of blood. If one has a dilated heart which doesn't pump well with a proven history of blocked coronary arteries, this is called ischemic cardiomyopathy; however, in idiopathic dilated idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, the heart still becomes thin and weak, but the cause as to WHY this happens is not known, and when an angiogram is done, there is little or no blockages in the vessels.

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy often hits young people unexpectedly who have no history of heart disease. Other ways one can get dilated cardiomyopathy include: problems with pregnancy, excessive alcohol intake, severe damage from heart inflammation (i.e. myocarditis) etc. etc.

In your case, they are saying you have dilated cardiomyopathy, but don't know WHY you have it; however, usually a cause is not sought and the person will be put on medications to help optimize heart function. The fact that the doctors want to do a heart biopsy means they are looking for something going on in the heart which may explain WHY your heart has become dilated and weak, and possibly see if it can be reversed. There are certain inflammatory conditions such as sarcoidosis which can cause heart inflammation, and can potentially be halted if treated early.

I take it you are on a bunch of medications including a beta-blocker, ACE inhibitor and perhaps spironolactone? Have the doctors given you any blood thinners like coumadin? Do you know what your "ejection fraction" is?