Specific aims of this study are: a) to create a multicenter pilot registry of PPCM in different areas in Italy to assess incidence and prevalence of this rare disease, associated comorbidities and risk factors. b) to deeply characterize identified PPCM patients through clinical, imaging, genetic, biochemical, and molecular phenotyping. c) to gain novel mechanistic information on PPCM by performing deep clinical and molecular phenotyping in available biobanks samples of patients with PPCM and healthy controls.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, severe and potentially life-threatening disorder of largely unknown etiology and pathophysiology, with unexplained geographical differences and heterogeneous presentation. We hypothesize that a network-based multidisciplinary strategy integrating clinical and molecular phenotyping of PPCM patients might anticipate diagnosis, optimize treatments, and identify novel mechanisms to achieve the unmet goal of personalized medicine.