Symptoms And Treatments For Heart Conditions You Didn't Know Existed

Treatment For Cardiomyopathy

Patients who do not experience symptoms do not require treatment. When treatment is needed, however, it varies based on type, severity, as well as the patient’s age and overall health. Standard treatments include making lifestyle changes for heart health, medication, and surgery. Examples of heart-healthy lifestyle changes are managing stress, eating a balanced and healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and quitting smoking. Medications doctors prescribe include those to prevent blood clots, balance electrolytes, lower blood pressure, maintain a normal heartbeat, remove excess sodium, reduce inflammation, and slow heart rate.

Surgical options include surgically implanted devices, a heart transplant, and septal myectomy. The devices are all intended to assist the heart in pumping the blood sufficiently and evenly throughout the body, and include a pacemaker, left ventricular assist device, cardiac resynchronization therapy device, and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Septal myectomy is open-heart surgery, recommended for severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in which the surgeon removes the piece of the thickened septum interfering with the left ventricle. A heart transplant is typically the last resort and, as the name suggests, involves replacing the diseased heart with a new, donor heart.

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