Can antiheart autoantibodies predict disease risk in asymptomatic relatives of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?
Timothy M Olson
Correspondence Cardiovascular Genetics Laboratory, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Email olson.timothy@mayo.edu
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
Idiopathic DCM has been increasingly recognized as a heritable disorder through clinical and basic research carried out over the past 15 years.1, 2 Even in genetically predisposed individuals, however, its onset is insidious with decades of clinically silent, yet relentlessly progressive, myocardial remodeling. Consequently, patients presenting with symptomatic, end-stage DCM frequently have advanced heart failure, are less likely to respond to pharmacotherapy than those with early-stage disease, and have high morbidity and mortality. Moreover, family history often fails to discriminate the 25–50% of DCM cases that are, in fact, familial. Diagnosis of DCM in at-risk relatives, therefore, requires serial echocardiographic and electrocardiographic screening, regardless of family history. Indeed, clinical surveillance in families can uncover isolated LVE, or abnormalities of rhythm or conduction, as early traits of DCM.1, 2, 3
Full text of this article is available with one of the following:
- Personal subscription Purchase your own personal subscription to this journal. Already a subscriber? Please log in for immediate access.
- 7 day single article pass for US$18 In order to purchase this article you must be a registered user. Please register or log in.
- Site licence Learn more about institutional site licences
Current Subscribers
Please log in to access the full text article using the login box at the top of the page.
