Treatment

The goals of cardiomyopathy treatment are to:

• Manage your signs and symptoms
• Prevent your condition from worsening
• Reduce your risk of complications

The type of treatment you receive depends on which type of cardiomyopathy you have.

Medications

Many different types of medications are used to treat cardiomyopathy. Medications for cardiomyopathy can help:

• Improve the heart's ability to pump blood
• Improve blood flow
• Lower blood pressure
• Slow heart rate
• Remove extra fluid from the body
• Prevent blood clots

Therapies

Nonsurgical procedures used to treat cardiomyopathy or arrhythmia include:

• Septal ablation. A small portion of the thickened heart muscle is destroyed by injecting alcohol through a long, thin tube (catheter) into the artery supplying blood to that area. This allows blood to flow through the area.
• Radiofrequency ablation. To treat abnormal heart rhythms, doctors guide long, flexible tubes (catheters) through your blood vessels to your heart. Electrodes at the catheter tips transmit energy to damage a small spot of abnormal heart tissue that is causing the abnormal heart rhythm.

Surgery or other procedures

Several types of devices can be surgically implanted in the heart to improve its function and relieve symptoms, including:

• Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). This device monitors your heart rhythm and delivers electric shocks when needed to control abnormal heart rhythms. An ICD doesn't treat cardiomyopathy, but watches for and controls abnormal rhythms, a serious complication of the condition.
• Ventricular assist device (VAD). This helps blood flow through your heart. A VAD usually is considered after less invasive approaches are unsuccessful. It can be used as a long-term treatment or as a short-term treatment while waiting for a heart transplant.
• Pacemaker. This small device placed under the skin in the chest or abdomen uses electrical impulses to control arrhythmias.

Types of surgery used to treat cardiomyopathy include:

• Septal myectomy. In this open-heart surgery, your surgeon removes part of the thickened heart muscle wall (septum) that separates the two bottom heart chambers (ventricles). Removing part of the heart muscle improves blood flow through the heart and reduces mitral valve regurgitation. Septal myectomy is used to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• Heart transplant. Your doctor might recommend a heart transplant if you have end-stage heart failure and medications and other treatments no longer work.