Types of Heart Disease
by Beth G. Hodges, MD

There are actually different types of heart disease, though most people think of arterial blockages only. The blockages can lead to decreased blood flow to the heart, resulting in a heart attack, or ischemic heart disease. Ischemic heart disease can lead to a heart that doesn't pump well, also known as cardiomyopathy.

Other things can also lead to cardiomyopathy, such as a viral illness attacking the heart, chronic overuse of alcohol, and even certain drugs, like chemotherapeutic agents used to treat cancer, attacking the heart.

Cardiomyopathy leads to congestive heart failure, where the heart cannot keep up with the demands placed on it by the body and blood flow backs up, much like a traffic jam during rush hour.

Besides cardiomyopathy, other types of heart disease can include valvular disease, where one or more of the heart valves is damaged and not functioning properly. Valvular disease can be something a person is born with (congenital) or can develop due to illness (ie rheumatic fever) or infection, called endocarditis, or due to age-related calcium deposits, affecting how the valve functions.

Congenital heart disease is a structural type of heart disease a person is born having. It can involve a "hole" in the heart that never closes, reversed positions of vessels or chambers of the heart, or anything that causes the heart to vary from its predetermined expectation of development.

One final type of heart disease is an electrical problem, also called arrhythmia. The path of the electrical "signal" that tells the heart when and how to contract gets detoured, causing an abnormal heart rhythm. This, also, is often something someone has at birth, whether they know it or not, but an abnormal pathway can develop due to chronic lung disease stressing the heart or anything, really, that interferes with normal heart function.

Published - September, 2009