Cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy is disease of the heart muscle. In childhood the most common form is congestive cardiomyopathy following a viral myocarditis. This results in a large flabby heart that pumps inefficiently, producing the symptoms of heart failure. There are rarer forms, called restrictive (in which there is muscle disease preventing complete contraction of the muscle cells) or hypertrophic (where there is overgrowth of the muscle cells which may restrict the flow of blood from the left ventricle). These may run in families.
 
 
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