Familial dilated cardiomyopathy is a genetic form of heart disease. It occurs when heart (cardiac) muscle becomes thin and weakened in at least one chamber of the heart, causing the open area of the chamber to become enlarged (dilated). As a result, the heart is unable to pump blood as efficiently as usual. To compensate, the heart attempts to increase the amount of blood being pumped through the heart, leading to further thinning and weakening of the cardiac muscle. Over time, this condition results in heart failure.\n\nIt usually takes many years for symptoms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy to cause health problems. They typically begin in mid-adulthood, but can occur at any time from infancy to late adulthood. Signs and symptoms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy can include an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), shortness of breath (dyspnea), extreme tiredness (fatigue), fainting episodes (syncope), and swelling of the legs and feet. In some cases, the first sign of the disorder is sudden cardiac death. The severity of the condition varies among affected individuals, even in members of the same family.

In utero, the ductus arteriosus (DA) serves to divert ventricular output away from the lungs and toward the placenta by connecting the main pulmonary artery to the descending aorta. A patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in the first 3 days of life is a physiologic shunt in healthy term and preterm newborn infants, and normally is substantially closed within about 24 hours after bith and completely closed after about three weeks. Failure of physiologcal closure is referred to a persistent or patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Depending on the degree of left-to-right shunting, PDA can have clinical consequences.

Failure of the foramen ovale to seal postnatally, leaving a potential conduit between the left and right cardiac atria.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with an symmetrical and concentric pattern of hypertrophy.

An abnormal restriction of fetal growth with fetal weight below the tenth percentile for gestational age.

Abnormally increased size of the liver.

An inadequate sucking reflex, resulting in the difficult of newborns to be breast-fed.

Impaired feeding performance of an infant as manifested by difficulties such as weak and ineffective sucking, brief bursts of sucking, and falling asleep during sucking. There may be difficulties with chewing or maintaining attention.

Cerebellar ataxia refers to ataxia due to dysfunction of the cerebellum. This causes a variety of elementary neurological deficits including asynergy (lack of coordination between muscles, limbs and joints), dysmetria (lack of ability to judge distances that can lead to under- or overshoot in grasping movements), and dysdiadochokinesia (inability to perform rapid movements requiring antagonizing muscle groups to be switched on and off repeatedly).

An abnormally increased muscular tone that causes fixed abnormal postures. There is a slow, intermittent twisting motion that leads to exaggerated turning and posture of the extremities and trunk.

A seizure is an intermittent abnormality of nervous system physiology characterized by a transient occurrence of signs and/or symptoms due to abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain.

An unintentional, oscillating to-and-fro muscle movement about a joint axis.

Encephalopathy is a term that means brain disease, damage, or malfunction. In general, encephalopathy is manifested by an altered mental state.

Apathy is a quantitative reduction of motivation and the initiation and persistence of goal-directed behavior, where the accompanying emotions, thoughts, and social interactions are also suppressed.

Abnormal cognition is characterized by deficits in thinking, reasoning, or remembering.

A bilateral tonic-clonic seizure is a seizure defined by a tonic (bilateral increased tone, lasting seconds to minutes) and then a clonic (bilateral sustained rhythmic jerking) phase.

A delay in the achievement of motor or mental milestones in the domains of development of a child, including motor skills, speech and language, cognitive skills, and social and emotional skills. This term should only be used to describe children younger than five years of age.

An increase in size of the ventricular system of the brain.

Hypotonia is an abnormally low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle). Even when relaxed, muscles have a continuous and passive partial contraction which provides some resistance to passive stretching. Hypotonia thus manifests as diminished resistance to passive stretching. Hypotonia is not the same as muscle weakness, although the two conditions can co-exist.

Breakdown of muscle fibers that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream.

Reduced strength of muscles.

Generalized muscular hypotonia (abnormally low muscle tone).

Muscular hypotonia (abnormally low muscle tone) manifesting in the neonatal period.

Difficult or labored breathing. Dyspnea is a subjective feeling only the patient can rate, e.g., on a Borg scale.

Impairment of gas exchange within the lungs secondary to a disease process, neoplasm, or trauma, possibly resulting in hypoxia, hypercarbia, or both, but not requiring intubation or mechanical ventilation. Patients are normally managed with pharmaceutical therapy, supplemental oxygen, or both.

A severe form of respiratory insufficiency characterized by inadequate gas exchange such that the levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide cannot be maintained within normal limits.

An abnormal buildup of lactic acid in the body, leading to acidification of the blood and other bodily fluids.

An abnormally decreased sodium concentration in the blood.

An elevation of the level of the enzyme creatine kinase (also known as creatine phosphokinase (CK; EC 2.7.3.2) in the blood. CK levels can be elevated in a number of clinical disorders such as myocardial infarction, rhabdomyolysis, and muscular dystrophy.

Abnormally increased level of blood lactate (2-hydroxypropanoic acid). Lactate is produced from pyruvate by lactate dehydrogenase during normal metabolism. The terms lactate and lactic acid are often used interchangeably but lactate (the component measured in blood) is strictly a weak base whereas lactic acid is the corresponding acid. Lactic acidosis is often used clinically to describe elevated lactate but should be reserved for cases where there is a corresponding acidosis (pH below 7.35).

A severe form of lactic acidemia.

An abnormal increase in the molar ratio of lactate to pyruvate in the blood circulation.

An increased concentration of ammonia in the blood.

An abnormal reduction in quantity or strength of fetal movements.

Atrophy of the optic nerve. Optic atrophy results from the death of the retinal ganglion cell axons that comprise the optic nerve and manifesting as a pale optic nerve on fundoscopy.

Visual impairment (or vision impairment) is vision loss (of a person) to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive correction, medication, or surgery.

Disorder of the optic nerve.

A reduction in the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I, which is part of the electron transport chain in mitochondria.

A reduction in the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex III, which is part of the electron transport chain in mitochondria.

A reduction in the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex IV, which is part of the electron transport chain in mitochondria.