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Related terms: Cardiomyopathy, dilated, Cardiomyopathy, peripartum, Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Peripartum Cardiomyopathy
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Study Pinpoints New Abnormality in 'Athlete's Heart'
Posted 19 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, April 19 – A heart characteristic linked to sudden cardiac death is more common in athletes than non-athletes, and black male athletes are much more likely to have this characteristic than other athletes, a new study finds. The characteristic – left-ventricular hyper-trabeculation (LVHT) – is a feature of certain types of cardiomyopathy (chronic disease of the heart muscle). The abnormality is the leading cause of exercise-related sudden cardiac death in athletes. Researchers looked at 692 athletes in the United Kingdom and found that nearly 7 percent of them had the abnormality, compared with 0.4 percent of non-athletes. And the condition was much more common in black male athletes (about 13 percent) than in other athletes (4 percent). None of the athletes with left-ventricular hyper-trabeculation met the diagnostic criteria for any form of cardiomyopathy. The study is ... Read more
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Study Finds Gene Behind Inherited Cases of Enlarged Heart
Posted 15 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15 – Researchers have discovered a defective gene that's responsible for more than one-quarter of cases of inherited dilated cardiomyopathy, a serious heart muscle disease that often leads to heart failure by middle age. In the study, published in the Feb. 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers analyzed the DNA of 312 people with dilated cardiomyopathy, 231 people with another form of heart muscle disease (called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and 249 people with healthy hearts. The study patients with dilated cardiomyopathy had no obvious cause for their disease – such as alcoholism, heart attacks and other infections – so the researchers believed there was a genetic origin for the disease in these patients. About 27 percent of the dilated cardiomyopathy patients had mutations on the TTN gene that shortened the length of the gene. Only 1 percent ... Read more
Related support groups: Cardiomyopathy
Danon Disease Can Be Quickly Fatal, Study Finds
Posted 24 Mar 2009 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, March 24 – A rare genetic heart disorder called Danon disease progresses rapidly and is often deadly in young people, according to a new study. The recently recognized disease is a type of cardiomyopathy, or heart muscle disorder, linked to genetic mutations in the lysosome-associated membrane protein gene (LAMP2). Until now, the natural course of the disease was unclear. Researchers from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation studied seven people diagnosed with Danon disease when they were 7 to 17 years old. In six of them, diagnosis was made as the result of a heart murmur, family screening and findings on routine electrocardiogram tests or from such symptoms as chest pain and fainting. In one person, atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm, led to the diagnosis. Within nine years of diagnosis, on average, all seven had encountered serious problems. One person had ... Read more
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Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Cardiomyopathy Prophylaxis, Broken Heart Syndrome, Restrictive Cardiomyopathy, Heart Disease