Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized by impaired left ventricular (LV) systolic function and left ventricular dilatation. In the last two decades, remarkable progress has been made in understanding the genetic basis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (iDCM). Rare variants in >50 genes, some also involved in other cardiomyopathies, muscular dystrophy, or syndromic disease, perturb a diverse set of important myocardial proteins to produce a final DCM phenotype. Recommendations on genetic screening and cardiac screening are provided in this chapter.