The development of late gadolinium enhancement imaging (LGE) in the late 1990s revolutionized the clinical application of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies (1). Not only has the identification of even small subendocardial myocardial infarcts become possible due to the unsurpassed spatial resolution of the technique, but also specific patterns o...

Our understanding of the cardiovascular system has evolved through the years by extensive studies emphasizing the identification of the molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in its normal function and disease pathogenesis. Major discoveries have been made along the way. However, the majority of this work has focused on specific genes or pathways rather than integrative approaches. In ...

OBJECTIVES To report the rates of cardiomyopathies in the population below 50 years of age in Qatar. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of clinical data on patients with cardiomyopathy who were hospitalized in Hamad General Hospital, Doha. Data were collected from medical records during the 1996-2002 period and prospectively from the patients who were hospitalized during...

Ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. Cardiomyopathies of primary origin, and more specifically the dilated form of the disease, have been associated with a number of gene defects in cytoskeletal, membrane, and sarcomeric proteins. Cardiomyopathies of secondary origin such as ischemic cardiomyopathy remain ...

Over the last two decades, a large number of mutations have been identified in sarcomeric proteins as a cause of hypertrophic, dilated or restrictive cardiomyopathy. Functional analyses of mutant proteins in vitro have revealed several important functional changes in sarcomeric proteins that might be primarily involved in the pathogenesis of each cardiomyopathy. Creation of transgenic or knock-...

Background Left ventricular rotational deformation, which arises from contraction of myofibers arranged in a helical structure, plays a crucial role in cardiac mechanics. Myocardial dysfunction in cardiomyopathies is usually associated with altered diastolic rotation [1-3]. However, regional myocardial abnormalities in various cardiomyopathies may result in regional alterations of both systolic...

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. Therefore, classification tools play a major role in prevention and treatment of these diseases. Statistical learning theory applied to magnetic resonance imaging has led to the diagnosis of a variety of cardiomyopathies states. We propose a two-stage classification scheme capable of distinguishing between heterogeneous groups of ...

Background: Cardiomyopathy is the main cause of heart failure in developing countries, mainly in Africa. In those areas the concept of “tropical cardiomyopathy” is still used to design all unexplained cardiomyopathy. The primary aim of this review is first to review the main etiologies of cardiomyopathies observed in tropical countries and second to gain a better understanding of the nosologica...