[Classification of cardiomyopathiess (author's transl)].

Cardiomyopathies are functional disorders of the heart muscle which are not due to a mechanical overstrain or coronary circulatory disorder. They occupy a special place because they occur either from an unknown cause (primary cardiomyopathies) or in connection with a known primary disease or with infectious or toxic influences (secondary myocardiopathies) as generalized or circumscribed disturbances of the contraction process of the myocardial fibres. A classification can be made according to etiological and according to hemodynamic aspects.