title: Cardiac resynchronization therapy in becker muscular dystrophy.
abstract: A 44-year-old male patient with known Becker muscular dystrophy and concomitant non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy presented to our department because of worsening heart failure and presyncope. Upon admission, the patient was in New York Heart Association functional class III despite optimal pharmacological treatment; his ECG showed sinus rhythm with left bundle branch block and a wide QRS complex. Non-sustained ventricular tachycardia was recorded during 24-hour Holter monitoring. A complete three-dimensional echocardiographic study was performed and documented the dilatation and concomitant hypertrabeculation of the left ventricle (LV), with severely depressed systolic LV performance (ejection fraction 20%), as well as mechanical dyssynchrony--mainly in terms of intraventricular delay. A biventricular cardioverter-defibrillator (CRT-D) was implanted in this patient, with the LV lead in a lateral vein and the right ventricular defibrillating lead in the apical part of the interventricular septum. Echocardiography-guided device programming was performed in order to achieve the optimal atrio-, inter-, and intraventricular resynchronization. The patient's clinical condition was substantially improved within one month after the implantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Henry Dunant Hospital of Athens, Greece. andrikop@hotmail.com
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andrikopoulos
authors.forename: Spiros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kourouklis
authors.forename: Chrysanthi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trika
authors.forename: Stylianos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tzeis
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rassias
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papademetriou
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsivas
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Theodorakis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058406:Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000628:therapy*; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome