Cardiomyopathies ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Humans

BACKGROUND: The weight, shape and consistency of the heart, and the thickness of the ventricular wall are used as parameters for evaluating postmortem heart and diagnosing cardiomyopathy at autopsy. METHODS: The weight and volume of the ventricles and the thickness of the left ventricular wall of 58 hearts were measured and analyzed. RESULTS: In the group of dilated hearts, the ventricular weight, ventricular volume, ventricular volume/ventricular weight, and left ventricular volume/right ventricular volume increased, whereas ventricular wall thickness decreased. In the group of hypertrophied hearts, the ventricular weight, ventricular volume, and thickness of the ventricular wall increased but ventricular volume/ventricular weight and left ventricular volume/right ventricular volume did not change significantly. In the group of undetermined hearts, it was later found that four of the cases should have been included in the dilated heart group and another two cases in the hypertrophied heart group. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to conventional methods, the measuring ventricular volume is useful for evaluating a postmortem heart and may suggest postmortem differential diagnoses of dilated or hypertrophied forms of secondary cardiomyopathies.
Autopsy ; Cardiomyopathies ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Heart

Cardiomyopathies ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy ; Humans

Cardiomyopathies ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Child ; Humans

Amyloidosis ; classification ; diagnosis ; Cardiomyopathies ; classification ; diagnosis ; Humans

This paper introduces the troponin, a new gold standard for diagnosis of myocardial infarction and role of troponin in other diseases. The authors introduced also some new standards for diagnosis of the myocardial infarction such as cut-off value, isoenzyme CK-MB, GOT, myoglobin and LDH
Troponin ; Cardiomyopathies ; Infarction ; diagnosis ; Myocardial Infarction

Cardiomyopathies ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Child ; Eosinophilia ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans ; Male

Cardiomyopathies ; diagnosis ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; diagnosis

Amyloid Neuropathies, Familial/diagnosis* ; Cardiomyopathies/diagnosis* ; Humans ; Prealbumin

Most patients with liver cirrhosis have hyperdynamic circulatory alterations with increased cardiac output, and decreased systemic vascular resistance and arterial pressure. But, in spite of the increased resting cardiac output, ventricular contractile response to stressful stimuli is attenuated in cirrhotic patients which is termed as cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. The prevalence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy remains unknown at present. Clinical features include structural, histological, electrophysiological, systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Multiple factors are considered as responsible, including impaired beta-adrenergic receptor signal transduction, abnormal membrane biophysical characteristics, and increased activity of cardiodepressant systems mediated by cGMP. Generally, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy with overt severe heart failure is rare. However, major stresses on the cardiovascular system such as liver transplantation, infections and insertion of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) can unmask the presence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and thereby convert latent to overt heart failure. Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy may also contribute to the pathogenesis of hepatorenal syndrome and circulatory failure in liver cirrhosis. Because of the marked paucity of treatment studies, current recommendations for management are empirical, nonspecific measures. Further studies for pathogenesis and new therapeutic strategies in this area are required.
Cardiomyopathies/*diagnosis/*etiology/therapy ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*complications ; Prognosis