A retrospective study of the occurrence of left ventricular damage in 455 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, born between 1982 and 2009 and followed for an average of 10 years with a mean age at last check-up of 14.8 years shows that :
- 40.7% had left ventricular failure (ejection fraction less than 55% or shortening of ejection fraction less than 28%), which began on average at the age of 14.2 years;
- 91 (20%) boys received preventive treatment, in 76% of cases with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, starting at a mean age of 12.5 years; less than 20% died during the study, on average at 18.9 years;
- among boys without prophylactic treatment of LV failure, 8.5% survived to age 25 without signs of LV failure, while 85.7% of those with prophylactic treatment had no LV failure at age 16 and 52.5% at age 26.9;
- corticosteroid treatment does not alter the age of onset of left ventricular failure, which is also around age 16, as in untreated patients;
- finally, the onset of left ventricular failure was significantly delayed in the cardiac prophylaxis and corticosteroid group,compared with the other groups.
