Sodium Channel Mutations and Susceptibility to Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation

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Abstract
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), an idiopathic form of heart failure and the primary indication for cardiac transplantation,1 has an incidence of 6.0 per 100 000 person-years and prevalence of 36.5 per 100 000 population.2 Dilated cardiomyopathy is familial in more than 20% of cases,3 implicating genetic defects in single proteins in the disease pathogenesis. Mutations that impair excitation-contraction coupling, which translates electrical excitation of cell membranes into mechanical force production via intracellular calcium, have been demonstrated in DCM and in other heritable cardiac disorders.