[Diagnostic work-up and clinical management of cardiomyopathies: the operative protocol from the Cardiothoracovascular Department of Trieste, Italy].

Cardiomyopathies are primary myocardial disorders, genetically determined, with clinical onset between the third and the fifth decade of life. They represent the main causes of sudden cardiac death and heart failure in the youth. The more common myocardial diseases in clinical practice are dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.