Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of cardiac involvement in patients with Becker-Kiener muscular dystrophy

Purpose: Muscular dystrophy type Becker-Kiener (BMD) represents an X-linked disease due to mutations in the dystrophin gene. Apart from skeletal myopathy, cardiac involvement with the development of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been described, mainly based on echocardiographic studies. DCM is an important cause of mortality in these patients. The course of DCM can potentially be alleviated by timely onset of adequate medication. However, the underlying pathophysiology of cardiac involvement in muscular dystrophy is still to be explored and echocardiography has method-inherited limitations. Therefore, cardiov…