[The clinical practice guidelines of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología on cardiomyopathies and myocarditis].

Myocardial diseases are a extraordinarily heterogeneous group of processes that only have in common the fact that they involve heart muscle and that they cause a wide spectrum of myocardial dysfunction. The approach of the management and treatment of the cardiomyopathies is a continuous matter of discussion because the vast majority of alternatives in this field have not been based on the best scientific possible evidence and, since except for the case of heart failure associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. The majority of different options have not been studied by means of large (or even small) randomized trials. Nevertheless, this chapter has tried to provide the reader with different approaches on how to deal with important clinical problems in dilated, hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathies, and in myocarditis as well. For this, we have utilized the most relevant information found coupled with our best clinical judgment, although we admit that many of the clinical recommendations can be controversial.