**5. Restrictive cardiomyopathy**

Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a disorder of the myocardium that occurs due to increased myocardial stiffness (decreased compliance) that leads to impaired ventricular filling. Size of both ventricle chambers and systolic function usually remains normal or near-normal until later stages of the disease. RCM may arise as a result of either inherited or acquired predispositions and diseases or a combination of the both, and can broadly be classified as infiltrative, non-infiltrative, storage disease, and endomyocardial fibrosis. Restrictive cardiomyopathy is prevalent in tropical regions of the world, where incidence of endomyocardial fibrosis is high. In non-tropical regions, idiopathic fibrosis is the common cause and is associated with increasing age. Other rare causes of RCM include amyloidosis, haemochromatosis, sarcoidosis, and eosinophilic endocarditis.
