Left Ventricular Tonic Contraction as a Novel Biomarker of Cardiomyopathy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) inevitably afflicts patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) as a consequence of cell death induced by unguarded calcium influx into cardiomyocytes. This mechanism may also inhibit muscle relaxation in early stages of cardiomyopathy. ACE inhibition (ACEi) is known to delay the onset and slow the progression of DCM in DMD. The objective of this study is to use echocardiography to assess for preclinical cardiac changes consistent with intracellular calcium dysregulation before the onset of overt ventricular dysfunction, and to evaluate how prophylactic ACEi may alter these pre-cardiomyopathic changes in the pediatric DMD population. We examined 263 echocardiograms from 70 pediatric patients with DMD. We defined abnormal tonic contraction (TC) as left ventricular internal dimension in diastole (LVIDd) Z-score < −1.5. In our cohort, we found that TC is detectable as early as 8 years of age, and most commonly affects patients between 11 and 15 years. This effect was independent of LV mass and systolic function. Prophylactic ACEi decreased the incidence of TC (p = 0.007) and preserved cardiac function (p < 0.0001). Left ventricular TC often precedes DCM in DMD, most commonly affecting the 11- to 15-year-old age range. TC is not related to ventricular hypertrophy, but rather may be a clinical correlate of the “calcium hypothesis” of DMD pathophysiology. LV TC is thus a promising biomarker for early detection of cardiomyopathy in DMD. ACEi prophylaxis suppresses LV TC and delays the development of DCM in DMD.