Cardiomyopathy

According to ESC, a cardiomyopathy is defined as structural and functional abnormalities of the ventricular myocardium that is unexplained by coronary artery disease or abnormal loading conditions. This definition does not include diseases of the myocardium secondary to coronary artery disease or hypertension.

However, terms like “ischaemic cardiomyopathy” and “hypertensive cardiomyopathy” are used clinically to describe myocardial damage following chronic ischaemia and hypertension, respectively, despite not being true cardiomyopathies according to the ESC definition.

Types