Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesResearch article

Clinical Implications of Transmural Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Genotype-Positive Arrhythmogenic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy

JACC Clin ElectrophysiolPublished

  • retrospectively analyzed
  • Kaplan-Meier and age-adjusted Cox regression analyses

Authors' conclusion

Transmural LGE identifies a small but high-risk subset of genotype-positive ACM/DCM, particularly among patients with LMNA and DSP variants, with significantly increased arrhythmic and heart failure risk.

Study context

Population
Genotype-positive patients with nonischemic arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM)/dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and no significant coronary artery diseasewith cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and no significant coronary artery disease, of 1,379 genotype-positive patients with ACM/DCM
Participants
711 patients
Comparison
Transmural late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) compared with nontransmural or absent LGE
  • transmural LGEn = 33

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

Prevalence of transmural LGE

Transmural LGE present

5% (33/711)

Further findings

MVA events

AHF therapies

OutcomeHRP value
Thromboembolic events, atrial fibrillation, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation · higher rates with transmural LGEall P ≤ 0.003
Composite endpoint of MVA/AHF — transmural LGE vs nontransmural LGE · age-adjusted · age-adjusted models1.9P = 0.03
Composite endpoint of MVA/AHF — transmural LGE vs no LGE · age-adjusted · age-adjusted models2.9P = 0.0005
  • Major ventricular arrhythmic (MVA) events: P < 0.05
  • Advanced heart failure (AHF) therapies: P < 0.05

Original publication

Clinical Implications of Transmural Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Genotype-Positive Arrhythmogenic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. Published 23 July 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacep.2026.06.025

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it