The Role of Clinical Observation: Red Flag 7 — Syndromic and Multi-system Cardiomyopathies

In some patients, the phenotype of a cardiomyopathy (CMP) may be associated with the involvement of multiple organs, and with systemic clinical manifestations. These genetically determined diseases are characterized by complex, unusual and sometimes bizarre clinical pictures. The associations observed are not surprising, considering that in these diseases the defective gene is expressed in different structures or tissues. This is for example the case in the mitochondrial genes where production of abnormal proteins can cause multiform tissue abnormalities and/or dysfunction of different organs.