Ciba Foundation Symposium

TLDR

Cardiomyopathy, a disease marked by massive cardiac hypertrophy and a wide clinical spectrum, has been recently re‑identified after historically being misdiagnosed as coronary artery disease, hypertension, rheumatic heart disease, or idiopathic myocardial disease, and the Ciba Foundation Symposium convenes leading investigators to discuss its characteristics. The symposium is highly recommended for physicians interested in cardiomyopathy. Recent work by investigators such as Brock and Goodwin, Braunwald and Morrow, and Wigle has clarified cardiomyopathy’s definition, prognosis, and surgical options, and the disease offers valuable opportunities for clinical pharmacology research.

Abstract

Although well described many years ago, cardiomyopathy is a recently rediscovered disease. It is characterized by massive cardiac hypertrophy and enlargement. In previous years it masqueraded under such diagnoses as coronary artery disease, hypertensive disease, rheumatic heart disease, or myocardial disease of unknown cause. The clinical picture of cardiomyopathy has a wide spectrum. Although the etiology remains obscure, during the last decade the work of many investigators, particularly Brock and Goodwin in England, Braunwald and Morrow in the United States, and Wigle in Canada, has defined the disease more clearly, recorded its prognosis, and suggested surgical therapy. The Ciba Foundation Symposium entitled "Cardiomyopathies" is timely because it has brought together a number of investigators whose deliberations are recorded in an orderly fashion in this volume. It is highly recommended to physicians interested in this disease. It will also be useful to clinical pharmacologists because the disease lends itself to study