Updates to the WHO Classification of Cardiomyopathies

Abstract

Cardiomyopathies are an important cause of sudden cardiac death. Establishing a useful and universal classification scheme for these disorders is of great importance. In recent years consensus panels from both the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology have issued reports offering updated schemes for defining and classifying cardiomyopathies. There are some similarities and some distinct differences between these two recently proposed classification schemes. Awareness of the ongoing efforts to define and classify the cardiomyopathies is essential in working up cases of sudden cardiac death.