Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases 2007, 2:45doi:10.1186/1750-1172-2-45). Authors are Gaetano Thiene Domenico Corrado and Cristina Basso. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D) is a heart muscle disease characterized by life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Its prevalence has been estimated to vary from 1:2,500 to 1:5,000. ARVC/D is a major cause of sudden death in the young and athletes.The pathology consists of a genetically determined dystrophy of the right ventricular myocardium with fibro-fatty replacement, that it leads to right ventricular aneurysms. The clinical picture may include: a subclinical phase without symptoms and with ventricular fibrillation being the first presentation; an electrical disorder with palpitations and syncope, due to tachyarrhythmias of right ventricular origin; right ventricular or biventricular failure, requiring transplantation. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.