[The problem of the cardiomyopathies]

The author criticizes the tendency to broaden continuously the notion of "cardiomyopathy" and the attempts to cover by this term almost all etiological and pathogenetic variants of myocardial lesions. Classification of these variants by two groups is proposed: 1) idiopathic cardiomyopathies, etiology of which are either not known, or not established yet; 2) symptomatic cardiomyopathies the causes of which are known. The first group comprises congestive and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. Their essential clinico-anatomical features and considerations concerning pathogenesis are set forth. Every variant of the second group of cardiomyopathies (symptomatic) is analysed separately according to the character of the pathogenic agent. The need for comprehensive study of myocardial pathology in the so-called cardiomyopathies is emphasized.