Evolving concepts in dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) represents a particular aetiology of systolic heart failure that frequently has a genetic background and usually affects young patients with few co-morbidities. The prognosis of DCM has improved substantially during the last decades due to more accurate aetiological characterization, the red-flag integrated approach to the disease, early diagnosis through systematic familial screening, and the concept of DCM as a dynamic disease requiring constant optimization of medical and non-pharmacological evidence-based treatments. However, some important issues in clinical management remain unresolved, including the role of cardiac magnetic resonance for diagnosis and risk categorization and the interaction between genotype and clinical phenotype, and arrhythmic risk stratification. This review offers a comprehensive survey of these and other emerging issues in the clinical management of DCM, providing where possible practical recommendations.

Keywords: Dilated cardiomyopathy; Genetics; Heart failure; Left ventricular reverse remodelling; Risk stratification; Sudden cardiac death.