Igor Riečanský
Cardiomyopathies (CMP) are clinically significant and heterogeneous group of diseases of the circulatory system. They substantially participate in cardiovascular deaths, either as the result of uncontrollable heart failure or malignant disorders of the heart rhythm. The first official CMP definition and classification of WHO/ISFC from 1980 to recent statement of the Working group of the European Society of Cardiology for diseases of the myocardium and pericardium has been adjusted and changed many times. The basic and applied research of the last decade has revealed new knowledge of particular phenotypes of CMP which proposed a new definition and classification of CMP regarding the development of molecular genetics in cardiology and progress in diagnostics and present state of knowledge. The paper presents the survey of current classification systems of CMP and underlines their contribution and limitations.