Stiff Heart Syndrome

Hear t failure is a common medical problem that is increasing both in incidence and prevalence. Ischemic cardiomyopathy resulting from coronary artery disease is the most common cause of heart failure in the United States 1 . Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy is characterized by the absence of coronary artery disease and includes dilated, hypertrophic, and restrictive causes of cardiomyopathy. Out of these three types, restrictive cardiomyopathy is rare in the United States and most other industrialized nations. Restrictive cardiomyopathy is characterized by stiffening of the ventricular walls and loss of myocardial flexibility due to infiltration by abnormal tissue, resulting in inadequate ventricular filling with blood and eventually the loss in its ability to pump properly.