Aims: We investigated the incidence and outcome of cardiac malformations in 53 patients with Williams syndrome. Methods and results:The mean age, and period of follow-up, were 3.6 and 5.3 years, with standard deviations of 4.0 and 5.6 years, respectively. Of the patients, 45 (85%) had cardiovascular anomalies, often combined. Males presented earlier than females, at the ages of 2.1 years, with standard deviation of 2.8 years, as opposed to 4.5 years, with standard deviation of 4.2 years (p < 0.01). Supravalvar aortic stenosis occurred in 32 patients (71%), pulmonary arterial stenosis in 17 (38%), and mitral valvar prolapse in 12 (27%), 9 of these having regurgitant valves. Pulmonary valvar stenosis, ventricular septal defect, coarctation of the aorta, persistent patency of the arterial duct, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and subaortic stenosis all occurred less frequently. In 21 patients (47%), 24 surgical or catheter interventions had been made, most often for repair of supravalvar aortic stenosis, undertaken on 16 occasions with just one recurrence, and in 4 along with surgery to the mitral valve. Other lesions requiring intervention were pulmonary valvar stenosis, pulmonary arterial stenosis, coarctation of the aorta, and subaortic stenosis. We lost 3 patients (7%), with severe supravalvar aortic stenosis and moderate or severe mitral regurgitation, 2 early and one late after surgery. Conclusion: The most frequent cardiovascular anomalies in Williams syndrome were supravalvar aortic stenosis, pulmonary arterial stenosis, and mitral valvar prolapse, which occurred more frequently in our patients than previously observed. Patients with left ventricular pressure and volume overload were at greater risk.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the young is characterized by referral for murmur or heart failure; frequent secondary forms; the obstructive variant being as common as the non-obstructive form; a mortality rate similar to that for adults attending tertiary centres; and less frequent familial forms than in older populations.

Woolly hair and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis is an infrequent autosomal recessive ectodermal disorder that may be associated with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (Naxos disease) or dilated cardiomyopathy. We report the sporadic occurrence of the aforementioned skin-hair anomalies in a patient with physical findings compatible with Noonan's syndrome and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-an association heretofore not described.

BACKGROUND: Permanent dual-chambered pacing (DDD) is an alternative to surgical treatment in patients with severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) who do not have a satisfactory response to medical treatment. METHODS: Five children with severe HOCM still symptomatic despite medical treatment underwent permanent DDD pacing and were followed for 21 +/- 9.7 months. RESULTS: All patients improved their functional class. Doppler echocardiographic studies showed an early reduction of the left ventricular outflow tract gradient from 66 +/- 40 to 40 +/- 20 mmHg (P < 0.05) and to 30 +/- 11 mmHg (P < 0.05 and NS for comparison with the baseline and the early post-DDD pacing gradients, respectively) at mid-term follow-up. There was no evidence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction, and the results of left ventricular filling studies ruled out deleterious effects on diastolic function. Doppler echocardiography played a key role in the initial and subsequent assessment of these patients. CONCLUSIONS: Permanent DDD pacing is a reasonable alternative to surgery in children with HOCM who are still symptomatic despite medical therapy.

We report a 35-year-old female patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, left ventricular noncompaction, and Wolff-Parkinson-White EKG pattern. Several other family members present the same clinical condition. We speculate that this phenotype is related to the genotypes PRKAG2 and LAMP2 represented by mutations of the genes encoding AMP-activated protein kinase (PRKAG2) and lysosome associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2)