Clinical Presentation, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Findings, and Prognosis of Patients with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy - An Experience from Pakistan

Objectives: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited heart-muscle disease, characterized by fibro-fatty replacement and ventricular arrhythmias, that primarily affects the right ventricle (RV). We aimed to look at the clinical presentation, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging findings and prognosis of patients with ARVC in Pakistan.

Material and methods: It is a retrospective observational study, 17 consecutive patients with CMR and other findings consistent with ARVC, were enrolled from 2010 to 2019 at a single center.

Results: Out of 17 patients, 12 (70.6%) were male with a mean age of 33.5 ± 17.5 years. Family history of sudden cardiac death was present in 3 (17.7%) patients while one (5.9%) patient had family history of ARVC. Syncope was the first presenting symptom in eight (47.1%) patients. On 12 leads ECG, T wave inversion in precordial leads was found in 6 (35.4%) patients, and epsilon wave was present in only 3 (17.7%) patients. On echocardiogram, 13 (76.5%) patients had dilated RV with reduced systolic function. On CMR, majority of patients (n = 14, 82.4%) were found to have RV dilatation with regional dyskinesia and fatty infiltration, 9 (52.9%) of them had left ventricular involvement also. Follow-up was available for 14 patients (82.4%) with a mean follow-up period of 35.5 ± 19.7 months. Three (21.4%) of them died and 10 (71.4%) got admissions for heart failure during follow-up period.

Conclusion: Arrhythmia related events are the main presenting symptoms of ARVC in this region, and left ventricular involvement in ARVC is not rare in this population. The mortality is relatively high, probably due to advanced disease at the time of presentation and less medical facilities available.