Cardiomyopathy in blacks.

The intent in this chapter has been to bring to general awareness the fact that myocardial dysfunction represents a significant proportion of cardiovascular disease affecting blacks; in particular, dilated cardiomyopathy is a new frontier in cardiology, which demands an aggressive approach. At present, the prognosis is not good in the majority of cases; despite the best medical therapy, most of those with cardiomyopathy are doomed to death within a few years after the onset of congestive heart failure. Many of these are young African-American men in the prime of their lives. Cardiac transplantation offers some hope from this desperate situation, but donor shortages as well as restrictive criteria for prospective recipients and socioeconomic constraints, which may deny many blacks the opportunity to receive a transplant, make this option less than ideal.