Mechanisms of heart failure in congenital heart disease

Pediatric cardiomyopathies are genetically heterogeneous and information on the epidemiology and outcomes of cardiomyopathy in children is limited by disease diversity and small case series. In order to specifically identify patients that would profit from early intervention such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or specific pharmacologic treatment for heart failure we study individuals <= 18 years and their first-degree relatives with the following phenotypes: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), Left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC), and Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Detailed phenotyping including MRI and genotyping with a Next Generation Sequencing Panel of 170 candidate genes is performed.