Cardiomyopathies are diseases of heart muscle that may result from a diverse array of conditions that damage the heart and other organs and impair myocardial function, including infection, ischemia, and toxins. However, they may also occur as primary diseases restricted to striated muscle. Over the past decade, the importance of inherited gene defects in the pathogenesis of primary cardiomyopat...

Background—Although the prenatal diagnosis of most fetal structural heart defects and dysrhythmias has been described, there is a paucity of information about cardiomyopathies (CMs) in prenatal life. Methods and Results—-To determine the pathogenic mechanisms, hemodynamic findings, and outcome of fetal CM, we reviewed the fetal echocardiograms and perinatal histories of 55 affected fetuses. Dil...

Despite the striking advances in medical and surgical therapy, the morbidity, mortality, and economic burden of heart failure (HF) remain unacceptably high. There is increasing evidence that the risk and course of HF depend on genetic predisposition; however, the genetic contribution to HF is heterogeneous and complex. At one end of the spectrum are the familial monogenic HF syndromes in which ...

In this issue of Circulation, Bengur et all report their studies of the acute effects of captopril on the hemodynamics of children with congestive and restrictive cardiomyopathies. Captopril and other orally effective angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been studied in several large trials in adults with congestive heart failure,2-4 but relatively little has been published about...