A Female Carrier of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Complicated with Cardiomyopathy

A 45-year-old female carrier of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) complicated with cardiomyopathy is described. She had no symptoms of muscle weakness or heart failure. Her chest X-ray film revealed marked cardiomegaly. Echocardiogram showed marked enlargement and severe hypokinesis of the left ventricle. In myocardial scintigraphic images, perfusion defects of the myocardium were revealed. Dystrophin immunostaining of myocardial biopsy specimens showed a mosaic pattern of dystrophin-negative and -positive fibers. Cardiomyopathy is sometimes the only clinical symptom in female carriers of DMD. They are thought to be in a high risk group for developing heart failure.(Internal Medicine 39: 34-38, 2000)