Sudden cardiac death diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in a Kuwaiti family: a case report

BACKGROUND: Dilated cardiomyopathy is myocardial disease characterized by dilatation and impaired contraction of the left ventricle or both left and right ventricle. The majority of these cases are secondary to coronary artery disease, hypertension and valvular cardiomyopathy. Patients diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy are further clinically evaluated for evidence of familial history of the disease. Those families have shown to have genetic predisposition to dilated cardiomyopathy; thus, currently there is no available single genetic test that allows comprehensive testing of all causative genes. We report a Kuwaiti case of dilated cardiomyopathy that was diagnosed at young age. The patient clinical presentation pointed out to the fact that this was a familial disease. This case is the first reported in Kuwait clinically presented with familial dilated cardiomyopathy implying a genetic susceptibility factor to be further investigated within the at-risk family members. CASE PRESENTATION: 23-year-old Arab ethnicity Kuwaiti male with strong family history of dilated cardiomyopathy was admitted witnessed with sudden cardiac death. The patient presented with sudden arrhythmic death and survived with permanent anoxic brain injury. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed dilated cardiomyopathy with severe global left ventricular systolic dysfunction. After thorough investigation, the patient shown to have strong family history of dilated cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: Familial dilated cardiomyopathy is poorly documented in Kuwait. We present this case with future plan to study the genetic map of his family.