Cardiomyopathy differential diagnosis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Lina Ya'qoub, MD; Edzel Lorraine Co, DMD, MD [2]

Cardiomyopathy must be differentiated from athlete heart (which is often confused with HCM on echocardiography), hypertrophy due to hypertension or aortic stenosis; as these have common clinical features, including thickened myocardium on imaging and high QRS voltage on EKGs.

Moreover, cardiomyopathy must be differentiated from liver disease, and nephrotic syndrome; as both could present with volume overload symptoms (lower extremity edema, pulmonary edema, dyspnea) similar to many causes of cardiomyopathy as well.

References:

Template:Wexler RK, Elton T, Pleister A, Feldman D. Cardiomyopathy: an overview. Am Fam Physician. 2009;79(9):778-84.

Template:Richard P, Charron P, Carrier L, et al. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: distribution of disease genes, spectrum of mutations, and implications for a molecular diagnosis strategy. Circulation 2003; 107:2227.

Cardiomyopathy differential diagnosis

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