RESEARCH ARTICLE
Differences in Clinical Presentation and Findings between Idiopathic Dilated and Ischaemic Cardiomyopathy in an Unselected Population of Heart Failure Patients
Lilian Mantziari*, 1, Antonis Ziakas 1, Ioannis Ventoulis 1, Vasileios Kamperidis 1, Leonidas Lilis 1, Niki Katsiki 3, Savvato Karavasiliadou 1, Konstantinos Kiraklidis 1, Christodoulos Pliakos 2, Konstantinos Gemitzis 1, Haralambos Karvounis 1, Ioannis H Styliadis 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
First Page: 98
Last Page: 105
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-6-98
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401206010098
Article History:
Received Date: 19/6/2012Acceptance Date: 5/8/2012
Electronic publication date: 7/9/2012
Collection year: 2012

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
We explored the differences in epidemiologic, clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic characteristics between idiopathic dilated (IDCM) and ischaemic cardiomyopathy (ICM).
Consecutive patients with stable chronic heart failure evaluated at a tertiary cardiac centre were enrolled. Clinical examination, blood tests and echocardiographic study were performed.
A total of 76 patients (43 IDCM, 33 ICM) were studied. IDCM patients were younger (p<0.001) and female gender was more prevalent (p=0.022). NYHA class and left ventricular ejection fraction were similar. IDCM patients had lower rates of dyslipidaemia (p<0.001) but smoked more than ICM patients (p=0.023) and had higher rates of family history of sudden cardiac death (p=0.048). Blood pressure was similar but resting heart rate was higher in IDCM patients (p=0.022). IDCM patients presented less frequently with peripheral oedema or ascites (p=0.046 and 0.020, respectively) and showed better right ventricular function on echocardiogram. QRS duration was similar between groups but only in IDCM patients there was a positive correlation between QRS duration and age (r=0.619, p<0.001). Cardiac output was similar but functional capacity assessed by the Duke Activity Status Index was better in IDCM (p=0.036). Despite these differences, IDCM and ICM patients received similar treatments.
Patients with IDCM were younger, presented lower rates of right ventricular dysfunction and clinical right ventricular failure and had better functional capacity. Additional differences in clinical and laboratory findings exist pointing to a different patient population with diverse prognosis and potential need for individualized management.