A friend of mine is diagnosed noncompaction cardiomyopathy. Can you advise me please, he smokes joints and i am worried in relation to his condition. He has an ICD implanted and the pumping of his heart is weak. I cant get through to him and sick of worrying.
Hi, I understand your concern and I'll try to help you. Non-compacted myocardium is a very serious disease that can have serious consequences for patients affected by this disease. There are varying degrees of cardiac involvement is necessary and staging the lesions to set the proper treatment. One of the major complications of this disease is the risk of sudden death from severe cardiac arrhythmias, whose treatment is the implantation of a pacemaker which detects and especially can control these malignant arrhythmias known as implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Another common complication is the formation of clots within the heart that can break off and clog elsewhere on the body, leading to strokes, heart attacks, mesenteric ischemia, amputation of arms or legs. The treatment for this is the use of anticoagulant medications to prevent the formation of these thrombi. There is also the possibility of loss of contractile function of the heart and subsequent heart failure. When this failure is advanced the most appropriate treatment is heart transplantation. Therefore, there is no simple treatment, a specialized cardiac monitoring is needed, and multidisciplinary care with psychologists, occupational therapists and medical staff are well-trained to support the patient and his family. Hope I have answered your question. If you have any further questions I will be happy to help you. Wish you good health.