The heart is made of cardiac muscle tissue that contracts and relaxes in order to pump blood through the body. Unfortunately, there can be times when the heart muscle can be affected by certain disease processes.
These disease processes can make the heart weak. A weak heart pumps inefficiently, and this can affect the patient’s life.
Some of the common conditions that affect the heart muscles are listed below.
1. Cardiomyopathy
This is the most common type of muscle disorder. There are four main types of cardiomyopathies.
a. Dilated cardiomyopathy – This is a condition where the heart muscle is thin and weak. The heart is enlarged and does not pump properly.
You can read more about dilated cardiomyopathy here.
b. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – Here the heart muscle is a lot thicker than normal. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, also called HCM, runs in families and can be easily detected through screening tests. The heart muscle tends to contract normally and is rarely weak. However, patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are at a risk of sudden death.
Read more here.
c. Restrictive cardiomyopathy – This condition affects older patients. The heart muscle tends to be a lot stiffer than usual as the muscle is replaced by fibrous tissue. This makes contraction and relaxation of the heart poor.
Read about this condition here.
d. Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia – Also called ARVD, this is a rare kind of cardiomyopathy. Here, the right ventricle of the heart is replaced with scar tissue. Due to this, electrical activity within the heart is ordered and can cause irregular heart rhythms which can be life threatening.
Read more about this condition here.