Hardening or scarring of the heart muscle tissue, reducing its ability to pump effectively.
Greek 'kardia' (heart) + 'sclerosis' (hardening), a medical term describing the pathological stiffening of cardiac tissue. This became a key diagnostic term in cardiology to describe the long-term damage from various cardiac diseases.
Cardiosclerosis is what happens when the heart tries to heal itself after injury—it forms scar tissue just like skin does after a cut, but scars in the heart can't stretch and contract like healthy muscle, so the heart gradually loses pumping power.
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