congestive cardiomyopathy

Posted By  CCF Cardio MD-SGM on February 27, 1998 at 22:24:15:

In Reply to: congestive cardiomyopathy posted by sharon on February 21, 1998 at 22:07:24:

: My 40 year old brother was diagnosed with congestive cardiomyopathy in January of this year.  The echo showed that it was moderate to severe with a EF of 25%.   He is presently in atrial fib. and is on Coumadin.  In about 1-2 weeks he will be scheduled for a cardioversion.  The doctors are unsure what caused his cardiomyopathy.  But when he was in the hospital and having testing done, they found that he had some other health problems.  His platelets were 114, he has had chronic anemia over the past several years with a Hgb of 10-11, he had a bone marrow biopsy 1 year ago because of his low platelets and they said his bone marrow was saturated with iron.  They also found increased amount of protein in his urine.  Three years ago he had a bilopancreatic diversion to loose weight and has since lost over 100#. Several of the doctors suggested that it could be caused by a vitamin deficiency. I want to know if any of these problems could have caused the cardiomyopathy.  And if any of these problems caused his cardiomyopathy, could it slow down the progression if the cause was corrected.  Also, I was wondering if the heart reduction surgery could
  possibly be considered in his case?

[CCF Cardio MD-SGM]

_-
Dear Sharon,
Dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM), a cause of congestive heart failure, describes a condition where the pumping function of the
heart