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Well, it all starts by seeking medical attention. Your doctor will do a good history and physical examination. Afterwards, they will do an EKG to make sure that there is no sign of prior damage to the heart muscle or conduction system signals that may suggest scarring of the heart muscle. After this, your doctor would likely do an ultrasound called an echocardiogram to look at the heart muscle and see if the heart’s enlarged, if there are any other associated conditions such as valvular insufficiencies, weakening of the heart muscle, et cetera. And then the next test that is often done when we diagnose cardiomyopathy, because it’s really important to find if it’s ischemic or non-ischemic. Because ischemic cardiomyopathy, meaning cardiomyopathy related to blockage of the arteries, can actually be reversed if you revascularize, if you improve the blockages. So an angiogram would help rule out ischemic versus non ischemic cardiomyopathy. If it’s ischemic, then you do stents or bypass, and then the heart may get stronger. If it’s non ischemic, you get medications to treat the risk factors and the condition itself.
