Congenital heart block (CHB) is a rare disorder of atrioventricular conduction, characterized by absence of conduction of atrial impulses to the ventricles with slower ventricular rhythm (atrioventricular dissociation). CHB can occur in association with immunological evidence of maternal connective disease (autoimmune CHD), fetal structural CHD or can be idiopathic.

Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is characterized by hypotonia, symmetric generalized muscle weakness, and CNS migration disturbances that result in changes consistent with cobblestone lissencephaly with cerebral and cerebellar cortical dysplasia. Mild, typical, and severe phenotypes are recognized. Onset typically occurs in early infancy with poor suck, weak cry, and floppiness. Affected individuals have contractures of the hips, knees, and interphalangeal joints. Later features include myopathic facial appearance, pseudohypertrophy of the calves and forearms, motor and speech delays, intellectual disability, seizures, ophthalmologic abnormalities including visual impairment and retinal dysplasia, and progressive cardiac involvement after age ten years. Swallowing disturbance occurs in individuals with severe FCMD and in individuals older than age ten years, leading to recurrent aspiration pneumonia and death.

Mulibrey nanism (MUL) is a rare autosomal recessive growth disorder with prenatal onset, including occasional progressive cardiomyopathy, characteristic facial features, failure of sexual maturation, insulin resistance with type 2 diabetes, and an increased risk for Wilms tumor (summary by Hamalainen et al., 2006).

Danon disease is a multisystem condition with predominant involvement of the heart, skeletal muscles, and retina, with overlying cognitive dysfunction. Males are typically more severely affected than females. Males usually present with childhood onset concentric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that is progressive and often requires heart transplantation. Rarely, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can evolve to resemble dilated cardiomyopathy. Most affected males also have cardiac conduction abnormalities. Skeletal muscle weakness may lead to delayed acquisition of motor milestones. Learning disability and intellectual disability, most often in the mild range, are common. Additionally, affected males can develop retinopathy with subsequent visual impairment. The clinical features in females are broader and more variable. Females are more likely to have dilated cardiomyopathy, with a smaller proportion requiring heart transplantation compared to affected males. Cardiac conduction abnormalities, skeletal muscle weakness, mild cognitive impairment, and pigmentary retinopathy are variably seen in affected females.

An autosomal dominant subtype of familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy caused by mutation(s) in the JPH2 gene, encoding junctophilin-2.

Infantile-onset myofibrillar myopathy-12 with cardiomyopathy (MFM12) is a severe autosomal recessive disorder affecting both skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue that is apparent in the first weeks of life. Affected infants show tremor or clonus at birth, followed by onset of rapidly progressive generalized muscle weakness and dilated cardiomyopathy and cardiac failure, usually resulting in death by 6 months of age. Skeletal and cardiac muscle tissues show hypotrophy of type I muscle fibers and evidence of myofibrillar disorganization (summary by Weterman et al., 2013). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of myofibrillar myopathy, see MFM1 (601419).

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy with variable ectodermal abnormalities (ARCME) is characterized by severe dilated cardiomyopathy resulting in death or cardiac transplantation in childhood. Ventricular tachycardia, sustained or nonsustained, has been reported. In addition, some patients exhibit ectodermal manifestations including woolly or wiry hair, dental anomalies, dry skin, and/or dystrophic nails. Cleft lip and palate and corneal abnormalities have also been observed (Robinson et al., 2020; Henry et al., 2022).