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Cardiomyopathy Specialist

Mission Heart & Vascular Our Services Cardiomyopathy

Mission Heart & Vascular

Board Certified Interventional Cardiologists & Peripheral Vascular Disease located in Mission, TX

Cardiomyopathy comes in several forms, all of which reduce your heart's ability to pump blood. If you have any cardiomyopathy symptoms, board-certified interventional cardiologists Gabriel Todd Faz, MD, FACC, FSCAI, and Kiran Mangalpally, MD, at Mission Heart & Vascular can provide the treatment you need to prevent serious complications. They deliver effective management solutions for cardiomyopathy, including medication, minimally invasive cardiac catheterization, and device implantation. Call the office in Mission, Texas, or use the online form to book an appointment today.

Cardiomyopathy Q & A

What is cardiomyopathy?

Cardiomyopathy is a disease that affects your heart muscle, making it harder for your heart to pump blood around your body.

There are several different types of cardiomyopathy, including dilated, hypertrophic, and restrictive. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia is another rare form of cardiomyopathy.

These conditions cause problems like abnormal thickening of your heart muscle, scar tissue development, and loss of elasticity in your heart muscle.

What symptoms does cardiomyopathy cause?

In its earlier stages, cardiomyopathy often causes few, if any, symptoms. As the condition worsens, you're likely to experience problems such as:

  • Shortness of breath
  • Swollen legs, ankles, and feet
  • Abdominal bloating due to fluid buildup
  • Coughing when lying down
  • Fatigue
  • Rapid, pounding, or fluttering heartbeats
  • Discomfort or pressure in your chest
  • Dizziness, lightheadedness, and fainting

Cardiomyopathy can also lead to serious complications. These include heart failure, the formation of blood clots that can cause heart attack and stroke, heart enlargement that affects the valves, and cardiac arrest.

What causes cardiomyopathy?

You might have cardiomyopathy because you've inherited it from one of your parents, or it could be a complication of a separate condition. Potential causes of cardiomyopathy include:

  • Long-term high blood pressure
  • Heart tissue damage due to a heart attack
  • Chronic tachycardia
  • Heart valve problems
  • Metabolic conditions like obesity, thyroid disease, and diabetes
  • Thiamin deficiency

Excessive alcohol consumption and the use of certain illegal substances like cocaine can also lead to cardiomyopathy.

How is cardiomyopathy treated?

The aim of your treatment program at Mission Heart & Vascular is to reduce the symptoms cardiomyopathy causes, stop your condition from worsening, and manage your risk of complications.

The exact treatment you receive depends on the type of cardiomyopathy you have and could include:

Medications

Medications can help your heart pump more effectively. They can also lower your blood pressure and slow your heart rate, increase blood flow, remove fluid buildup, and stop blood clots from forming.

Surgically implanted devices

There are several devices Mission Heart & Vascular can use to address cardiomyopathy, including implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), ventricular assist devices (VADs), and pacemakers.

Cardiac catheterization procedures

Cardiac catheterization involves feeding a slim tube called a catheter along an artery into your heart. Using this method, your provider can inject alcohol or use radiofrequency ablation to treat abnormal heart tissues.

Only when these methods are unsuitable or unsuccessful would you need open heart surgery for cardiomyopathy.

If you have symptoms of cardiomyopathy, call Mission Heart & Vascular or book an appointment online today.

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