Duchenne dilated cardiomyopathy: Cardiac management from prevention to advanced cardiovascular therapies

Abstract

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized by a hypokinetic, dilated phenotype progressively increasing with age. Regular cardiac care is crucial in DMD care. Early recognition and prophylactic use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) are the main stay therapeutic strategy to delay incidence of DMD-DCM. Pharmacological treatment to improve symptoms and left ventricle (LV) systolic function, have been widely implemented in the past years. Because of lack of DMD specific drugs, actual indications for established DCM include current treatment for heart failure (HF). This review focuses on current HF strategies to identify, characterize, and treat DMD-DCM.