[Diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy: place of the bidimensional echocardiography]

The restrictive cardiomyopathies are sporadic diseases, their diagnosis is often made tardively. Their main differential diagnosis is the chronic pericardiac constriction. The non invasive diagnostic techniques don't permit always to differentiate this two pathologies of different prognosis and treatment. The target of our work is to specify the place of the echocardiography in the diagnosis of the restrictive cardiomyopathies [RCM]. We collected between January 1993 and January 2005 four patients presenting a RCM. The circumstance of discovery was in any case a global cardiac insufficiency. The echocardiography showed a dilatation of the atrium in all patients, whereas the ventricles were of normal size three times. The study of the endocardium showed an apical fill in all patients, whereas the endocardic calcifications had not been recovered except one time, All patients had a valvular thickening. The systolic function was normal three times over four