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Are there are different types of cardiomyopathies? Yes. There is dilated cardiomyopathy. There is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And there is restrictive cardiomyopathy. In dilated cardiomyopathy, the pumping chambers, the lower chambers of the heart, are stretched out and have difficulty pumping blood. This condition can be present in children, but also in adults. Children tend to have more commonly dilated cardiomyopathy. It’s more common in men than it is in women. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a condition where the heart muscle is thickened. It’s inherited and passed on through families. It tends to present in childhood or young adulthood. It can sometimes present asymptomatic with sudden death, and other times with respiratory symptoms. Restrictive cardiomyopathy is a condition associated with amyloidosis, hemochromatosis and other conditions where there’s damage to the muscle of the heart and scarring that leads to inability to fill properly. And this can lead to heart failure, because heart failure can be systolic, related to weakening of the pump, where the pump doesn’t pump effectively, or diastolic, related to filling of the heart, where the heart doesn’t fill properly.
