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Cardiomyopathies in Women

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Manual of Gynecardiology

Abstract

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a potentially threatening disease in low and middle income countries, where healthcare systems and supervision during pregnancy are not well controlled and doctors are unaware of the disease. Symptoms and signs are typical for systolic HF and may develop rapidly, leading to severe acute systolic failure, ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death. Inhibiting prolactin secretion with Bromocriptine may offer a novel specific therapeutic option. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and probably also non-compaction and arrhythmogenic right ventricular CM have a greater prevalence in men than in women. This chapter contains expert information on sex differences in myocardial adaptation of the human heart.

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Acknowledgement

I thank Arne Kühne for excellent management of the references and Martina Rudek and Sarah Lisa Müller for editorial support. The work was supported by grants from DZHK and from EU FP 7 (RADOX and EUGenMed).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Gender in Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Research, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Vera Regitz-Zagrosek M.D., Ph.D.

  2. Center for Cardiology, Angiology and Molecular Cardiology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner Ph.D. & Tobias Pfeffer M.D.

Authors
  1. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek M.D., Ph.D.
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  2. Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner Ph.D.
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  3. Tobias Pfeffer M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vera Regitz-Zagrosek M.D., Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Women’s Cardiac Health Program, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Angela H.E.M. Maas

  2. Director Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, Director Preventive Cardiac Center, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, USA

    C. Noel Bairey Merz

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Regitz-Zagrosek, V., Hilfiker-Kleiner, D., Pfeffer, T. (2017). Cardiomyopathies in Women. In: Maas, A., Bairey Merz, C. (eds) Manual of Gynecardiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54960-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54960-6_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54959-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54960-6

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