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Restrictive cardiomyopathy is the least common form of cardiomyopathy. This condition gets its name from the way it restricts the heart from stretching properly. While the rhythm and pumping action of the heart may be healthy, the stiff walls of the heart chambers keep them from filling normally. So blood flow is reduced, and blood that would normally enter the heart is backed up in the circulatory system. In time, the heart fails.

1.Treatment is not often helpful, although sometimes doctors are able to treat the cause.

2.The diagnosis is based on results of a physical examination, electrocardiography, echocardiography and cardiac catheterization.

3.Shortness of breath, fluid accumulation in the tissues, abnormal heart rhythms, and awareness of heartbeats are common symptoms.

4.Restrictive cardiomyopathy may occur when heart muscle is gradually infiltrated or replaced by scar tissue or when abnormal substances accumulate in the heart muscle.

The least common form of cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, shares many features with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Its cause is usually unknown.

There are two basic types of restrictive cardiomyopathy. In one type, the heart muscle is gradually replaced by scar tissue. Scarring may result from injury due to radiation therapy for cancer. In the other type, abnormal substances accumulate in or infiltrate the heart muscle. For example, if the body contains too much iron, iron may accumulate in the heart muscle, as it does in people who have iron overload (hemochromatosis see Spotlight on AgingSidebar). Eosinophils, a type of blood cell, may infiltrate the heart muscle in people who have the hypereosinophilic syndrome (see White Blood Cell Disorders: Eosinophilic Disorders), which most often occurs in tropical regions.

Amyloid, an unusual protein not normally present in the body, may accumulate in heart muscle and other tissues, causing amyloidosis (see Amyloidosis). Amyloidosis is more common among older people. Other examples are tumors and granuloma tissue (abnormal collections of certain white blood cells that form in response to chronic inflammation), which, for example, develops in people who have sarcoidosis (see Interstitial Lung Diseases: Sarcoidosis). A congenital form of restrictive cardiomyopathy occurs in infants who have endocardial fibroelastosis. In this rare disorder, a thickened layer of fibrous tissue lines the left ventricle.