Heart Imaging in Children With Muscular Dystrophy

Cardiomyopathy causes significant morbidity and mortality in multiple forms of muscular dystrophy affecting children, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) and subtypes of autosomal recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2). Pharmaceutical treatments for the cardiomyopathy of muscular dystrophy, including angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and beta-adrenergic receptor blockade, afford significant benefit and demonstrate cardiac remodeling in clinical studies. Further studies are needed to identify and characterize more sensitive indicators of cardiac dysfunction in muscular dystrophy subjects to better stratify subjects for entry into clinical protocols. Using the framework of the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) and the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium, this pilot study will assess cardiac outcome measures in children obtained by gadolinium enhanced cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and echocardiographic methods that can be reliably implemented across a consortium of clinical sites devoted to the study of pharmaceutical treatments for muscular dystrophy. These cardiac MRI scans will be shared with the PITT1109 research protocol in all subjects that are enrolled in both studies.