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Cardiomyopathy Hypertensive Heart Disease

According to the Mayo Clinic, cardiomyopathy is a heart muscle disease. It is broken down into three specific types: restrictive, hypertrophic and dilated. Each of these types can cause the heart to not pump the necessary amount of blood needed daily and can prevent the blood that is pumped from coursing to other parts of the body like it should.

  1. Hypertensive Heart Disease

    • High blood pressure (hypertension) can also cause heart disease. When your heart is properly pumping the needed amount of blood but your arteries are too narrow to handle the amount, it can lead to hypertension (high blood flow pressure). Likewise, if your heart is pumping too much, even if the arteries aren't narrow, hypertension can still occur.

    Combining the Two Diseases

    • According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, an individual with both a heart disease of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy), as well as high blood pressure heart disease (hypertension), has hypertensive cardiomyopathy. When hypertension is sustained for an indefinite period of time, it develops into hypertrophy of the left heart ventricle.

    Causes

    • According to the Mayo Clinic, this hypertrophy is due to heart muscle abnormal thickening or growth. This thickening prevents---and reduces the amount of---normal blood flow and pressure. However, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine, other factors such as salt intake, growth hormone activity (like insulin and thyroxin), glucose levels and even genetics can also play a role.

    Symptoms

    • Breathlessness, even when an individual is at rest, is one symptom of this condition, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other symptoms may also be experienced, such as abdominal bloating due to fluid, fatigue, swelling (feet, ankles or legs), an irregular heartbeat (rapid, pounding, fluttering), dizziness, lightheadedness, or even fainting. However, some people don't experience any symptoms at the onset.

    Treatments

    • One treatment option is a pacemaker.

      Beta blockers (Lopressor) or calcium channel-type blockers (Calan, Isoptin) are treatment options considered for this condition. Other treatment options include pacemaker, septal myotomy-myectomy procedure (a portion of the enlarged muscle is removed) and alcohol ablation (a nonsurgical procedure that consists of alcohol being injected into the heart muscle tissue that needs to be destroyed).

    Significant

    • Although this condition cannot be prevented, it can be treated. Early detection can also lessen the disease's ability to progress.

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