Cardiomyopaty

  Hiya. Thanks for this forum. This last March I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy
  with an ef of 35 an a dilated left ventriculeof 6.4. That following May an
  echo showed an ef of 50 and LV dilation was the same. Now In Nov I had an echo with an ef of 56%
  and Left ventricular dilation down to 5.5. All other parts of echo were normal. So within 7 months
  I seem to have improved to a great point. Does this mean I no longer have cardiomyopathy? The think it was
  caused by a virus. I still take 20mg a day of Zestril and have the pvc's off and on. What kind of a porgnosis does a
  recovery like this tell me ??? Should I worry bout this all coming back???
  I also had bradycardia with a heart rate in te 40's and 50's which seem to now be in the 70's and 80's. Can you give me
  you opinion of what all this shows to you ????
  Thank you, Ginger

[CCF CARDIO MD APS]

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Dear Ginger,
Technically one could say you no longer have cardiomopathy in that your ef has normalized (lower limits of a normal ef is 55%) and your heart is no longer dilated(usually less than 5.7cm is normal.)  Yours is the normal time course for recovery from a presumed viral cardiomyopathy; this is excellent news since patients who recover as you have, have a good prognosis. Just as we do not understand how you 'got it', we do not understand its' likelihood of coming back.  I can say that since the advent of drugs like zestril (collectively termed ace-inhibitors) and coreg the prognosis for all cardiomyopathic patients has improved significantly however it is unknown whether or not your recovery was at all related to the zestril. It sounds as if your heart rhythm function has recovered to normal also, again this is a good sign.  It is pertinent that you discuss these issues with your cardiologist, as well that you follow-up regularly, especially while still on medications.
I hope this information is useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for
general purposes only.  Only your physician can provided specific diagnoses and therapies.
Feel free to write back with further questions. Good luck!
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