Sudden cardiac death in infiltrative cardiomyopathies: sarcoidosis, scleroderma, amyloidosis, hemachromatosis.

Zena and Michael Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY, USA.

Sarcoidosis, scleroderma, amyloidosis, and hemachromatosis are systemic infiltrative disorders that commonly affect the heart. Owing to their potential for diffuse organ involvement, these diseases may present with myriad clinical manifestations. Conduction system abnormalities are common, and each of these disorders has been associated with sudden cardiac death. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of each of these entities. We place special emphasis on existing literature as it pertains to risk stratification and therapy aimed at the prevention of sudden cardiac death in these infiltrative cardiomyopathies.

PMID: 18634918 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]