Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Report:

Sinus tachycardia 135/min

Left atrial abnormality

Posterolateral infarction pattern c/c muscular dystrophy

Comment:

The pattern of fully developed Duchenne dystrophy is very characteristic, reflecting the posterolateral scarring of the left ventricle. This trace is a classical example; a posterolateral pseudoinfarction.

The pathogenesis of both the dystrophy and its peculiar cardiac distribution are described lucidly and in detail in Perlof’s chapter of Braunwald’s Heart Disease68.

This patient had another characteristic feature of Duchenne cardiomyopathy – persistent and inappropriate sinus tachycardia. This of course could not be deduced from a single tracing.

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