Cardiology
The heart is a muscle and unfortunately it is also affected in children with Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy. The heart becomes dilated or stretched and weak over time. This is refered to as "dilated cardiomyopathy".
There is growing evidence that if treated early these cardiac problems can be managed by the use of commonly available drugs such as ACE inhibitors and Beta blockers.
Therefore it is important that you ask for an echocardiogram and ECG on diagnosis and get regular routine checks.
Action Duchenne suggests that:
1) You download the documents below and take them with you to your next consultation and discuss them with your clinician or cardiologist.
2) Ensure that patients with DMD and BMD are given regular echocardiograms and ECG's.
3) Discuss the results of the latest research that shows that early treatment of young people as young as 10 years with perindopril delayed the onset of heart problems related to DMD.
4) Ensure that female carriers of the DMD gene follow the guidelines set out below.
The Department of Paediatrics at the Hammersmith Hospital has issued guidelines on heart management. To view or download them, visit our document library .