Reviews
Muscular dystrophies and the heart: The emerging role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging
Author(s): Sophie Mavrogeni*, George Markousis-Mavrogenis, Antigoni Papavasiliou, Elias Gialafos, Stylianos Gatzonis, George Papadopoulos and Genovefa Kolovou
Muscular dystrophies (MD) constitute a group of inherited disorders, characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness and heart involvement. Cardiac disease is common and not necessarily related to the degree of skeletal myopathy; it may be the predominant manifestation with or without any other evidence of muscular disease. Death is usually due to ventricular dysfunction, heart block or malignant arrhythmias. In addition to MD patients, female carriers may present with cardiac involvement. Clinical evaluation, electrocardiography, echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) are the diagnostic tools used for the assessment of these patients. Heart failure in MD may be delayed due to relative physical inactivity. The most common electrocardiographic findings include conduction defects, arrhythmias, hypertrophy and, potentially, evidence of myocardial necro.. Read More»
DOI:
10.4172/2368-0512.1000030
