Profile of electrocardiographic changes in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Cardiac changes often culminating in cardiac failure are at times a dramatic cause of death in patients of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These changes are probably invariable in such cases though they may escape detection in early stages by clinical examination or radiological investigation. Electrocardiography serves as a sensitive, non-invasive and inexpensive tool to detect these changes. Fifty-four cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy were studied clinically and were confirmed by biochemical and electroneuromyographic studies. They were then subjected to electrocardiographic studies. A number of electrocardiographic changes were observed, like tachycardia in 77.77%, deep Q in leads I, aVL, V6 in 53.70%, prolonged VAT in 37.03%, deep Q in leads II, III, aVF in 29.62% and prolonged Q-Tc interval in 25.92% cases. Some of these were distinctive enough to warrant attention for cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.