Introduction Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death. About one third of DCM is familial. Several DCM disease genes have been identified, many of them limited to only single individuals or families. A/C gene (LMNA) is sofar the most significant disease gene of DCM. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in characterizatio...

Abstract Background RV dysfunction is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in cardiac patients, especially those having dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Deformation imaging parameters (strain strain rate) are established as new echocardiographic measures that allow for both global regional function assessment. Previous studies showed heterogeneous segmental deformation affects differe...

BACKGROUND Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heart muscle disease that is endemic in Africa. Over the past 50 years, South African investigators have made significant contributions to scientific elucidation of the condition. The objective of this review was to summarise their research on the subject of DCM. METHODS AND RESULTS We searched PubMed for articles originating from South Africa and ...

Heart failure provokes alterations in the expression of nucleocytoplasmic transport-related genes. To elucidate the nucleocytoplasmic transport-linked functional network underlying the two major causes of heart failure, ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), we examined global transcriptome profiles of left ventricular myocardium tissue samples from 31 patients (ICM, n ...

Background CMR has become an increasingly valuable tool in the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with nonischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) due to its assessment of left ventricular systolic function and tissue characterization ability and may have a role in early identification of cardiomyopathy. Some of the changes associated with early DCM (left ventricular dilatation and mil...

AIM Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) can be an initial manifestation of familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). We aimed to identify mutations in families that could underlie their PPCM and DCM. METHODS AND RESULTS We collected 18 families with PPCM and DCM cases from various countries. We studied the clinical characteristics of the PPCM patients and affected relatives, and applied a targeted ...

Progressive cardiac dilatation and pump failure of unknown etiology has been termed idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). During recent years a large body of data has accumulated indicating that functionally active antibodies or autoantibodies being able to recognize and to stimulate the cardiac beta(1)-adrenergic receptor (anti-beta(1)-AR) may play an important role in the initiation and/or...

Cardiomyopathy can be classified into at least four main forms, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), restrictive cardiomyopathy, and left ventricular noncompaction. HCM produces ventricular wall thickening, especially in the interventricular septum, with decrease in ventricular chamber volumes. DCM produces a prominent increase in chamber volumes without ventricular ...

Pediatric restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a genetically heterogeneous heart disease with limited therapeutic options. RCM cases are largely idiopathic; however, even within families with a known genetic cause for cardiomyopathy, there is striking variability in disease severity. Although accumulating evidence implicates both gene expression and alternative splicing in development of dilated...

Mutations in the immunoglobulin mu binding protein-2 (Ighmbp2) gene cause motor neuron disease and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in the neuromuscular degeneration (nmd) mouse and spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress (SMARD1) in humans. To investigate the role of IGHMBP2 in the pathogenesis of DCM, we generated transgenic mice expressing the full-length Ighmbp2 cDNA specifically in m...