Advances in Cardiomyopathies Proceedings of the II Florence Meeting on Advances on Cardiomyopathies <Emphasis Type="Italic">April 24-26, 1997</Emphasis>

Front Matter....Pages I-XV Introduction: II Florence Meeting on Advances in Cardiomyopathies....Pages 1-2 The Classification of Cardiomyopathies....Pages 3-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 The Clinical Significance of Genetic Testing in Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy....Pages 17-21 The Italian Multicentric Study on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: I. Natural History and Clinical Course of Unselected Patients....Pages 22-27 The Italian Multicentric Study on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: II. Prognostic Assessment in Symptomatic Patients....Pages 28-35 Detection and Clinical Consequences of Myocardial Ischemia and Reduced Coronary Reserve....Pages 36-41 Identification and Management of High Risk Patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy....Pages 42-50 Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Sudden Death in the Young: a Pathologist’s View....Pages 51-59 The Clinicopathologic Spectrum of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. The Experience of the Italian Heart Transplant Program....Pages 60-69 Medical Treatment Options in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy....Pages 70-75 DDD Pacing in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: State of the Art....Pages 76-80 Indications and Outcome of Cardiac Surgery for Severely Symptomatic Patients with Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy....Pages 81-85 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Genetic Basis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 89-96 Virus Infection in Cardiomyopathies: Brief Overview, Recent Advances....Pages 97-100 Organ-Specific Cardiac Autoantibodies in Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Pathogenetic Implications....Pages 101-106 Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy: Diagnostic and Therapeutical Options....Pages 107-116 Mitochondrial DNA Mutations and Cardiomyopathies....Pages 117-127 Pathophysiologic Role of Coronary Microcirculatory Impairment in Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 128-137 Myocardial Catecholamines and Inotropic Response in Heart Muscle Disease....Pages 138-146 Molecular Biology of Heart Failure....Pages 147-159 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Does Etiological Heterogeneity Portend Clinical Heterogeneity?....Pages 160-170 Recent Advances in Etiopathogenesis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Which Relevance for the Clinical Cardiologist?....Pages 171-182 The Italian Multicentric Study: Natural History of Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 183-193 Mildly Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 194-202 Front Matter....Pages 203-203 Immunosuppressive Treatment for Inflammatory Dilated Cardiomyopathy (Myocarditis)....Pages 205-220 Prevention of Sudden Death in Patients with Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 221-228 Medical Treatment of Heart Failure: Problems in Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 229-235 Treatment of Dilated Cardiomyopathies with β-adrenergic Blocking Agents....Pages 236-244 The Role of β-Blockers in the Management of Heart Failure: Results of Controlled Trials....Pages 245-253 Controversial Issues on β-Blocker Treatment: Has Metoprolol an Additive Effect to Conventional Medical Treatment in Heart Failure Due to Dilated Cardiomyopathy?....Pages 254-261 β-Blockers for Heart Failure: Practical Issues....Pages 262-273 DDD Pacing in Dilated Cardiomyopathy....Pages 274-279 End-Stage Heart Failure and Timing of Heart Transplantation....Pages 280-293 Cardiomyoplasty: Surgical Therapy for Ischemic and Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathies....Pages 294-302 Left Ventricular Assist Device as Bridge to Transplantation....Pages 303-312 Back Matter....Pages 313-317 This book is a comprehensive and up-to-date overview on the ethiology, pathophysiology, clinical and therapeutic aspects of cardiomyopathies, edited by distinguished clinical researchers, who designed and followed a prospective natural history study on cardiomyopathies. Particular emphasis is given to clinical relevance of basic science advances in the field, from genetics to immunology. Controversial therapeutic issues are discussed. An eminently practical section is devoted to beta-blockade, the most novel medical treatment for heart failure. Non medical treatment options from pacing to cardiomyoplasty, artificial assist devices and transplantation are reviewed