Which term describes a disease of the heart muscle?

• A. Angiopathy
• B. Hepatopathy
• C. Cardiomyopathy
• D. Myocarditis

Answer: (C)

Understanding how medical terms name diseases by organ and tissue helps decode these questions. Cardiomyopathy is built from cardio- (heart) + myo- (muscle) + -pathy (disease). This specifically describes a disease of the heart muscle itself, which is the myocardium. In contrast, myocarditis means inflammation of the heart muscle, indicated by -itis, not a primary muscle disease. Angiopathy refers to disease of blood vessels, and hepatopathy refers to liver disease. So the term that denotes a disease of the heart muscle is cardiomyopathy.