Mark D. Kittleson, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (cardiology)

Studies have been performed in humans to determine if early administration of ACE inhibitors to human patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy decreases the progression of myocardial failure and so reduces mortality.

There currently is no evidence that any drug alters the natural history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in cats until they are in heart failure.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a cardiac disease due to an inherent abnormality in the myocardium that results in a decrease in myocardial contractility (i.e., myocardial failure) and is not secondary to another primary disease.

In humans, the familial nature of HCM was first reported in 1958. It has been demonstrated that over 70% of human cases of HCM are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, with most other cases being sporadic (although often still genetic in origin).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary myocardial disease that primarily affects left ventricular (LV) myocardium and is characterized by mild to severe thickening (concentric hypertrophy) of the LV wall (septum and/or free wall) and papillary muscles.