13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-207

Congestive heart failure: a not so rare manifestation of arrythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Cristina Basso, Annalisa Angelini, Gaetano Thiene, Ugolino Livi, Andrea Nava, Sergio Dalla Volta.
Department of Pathology, Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiology, University of Padua Medical School, Padua, Italy

Introduction

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an acquired progressive heart muscle disease of unknown etiology, characterized by transmural myocardial atrophy with fatty or fibrofatty replacement^1-5. In some instances pathologic changes are so widespread to affect the whole RV or to involve the left ventricle (LV), as to determine depressed contractility and congestive heart failure (CHF)^6-9. Aim of our study was to review our anatomical collection of ARVC heart specimens in order to establish distinctive clinical and pathological features of affected patients (pts) presenting with CHF.