[Classification of cardiomyopathy].
Cardiomyopathy is a group of cardiovascular diseases with poor prognosis. Some patients with dilated cardiomyopathy need heart transplantations due to severe heart failure. Some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy die unexpectedly due to malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Various phenotypes of cardiomyopathies are due to the heterogeneous group of diseases. The classification of cardiomyopathies is important and indispensable in the clinical situation. However, their classification has not been established, because the causes of cardiomyopathies have not been fully elucidated. We usually use definition and classification offered by WHO/ISFC task force in 1995. Recently, several new definitions and classifications of the cardiomyopathies have been published by American Heart Association, European Society of Cardiology and Japanese Circulation Society.