Biggest ever study into DCM disease that killed George Michael gets under way

Sufferers: DCM led to George Michael’s death and affects Cathy Thurlow
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Sophie Goodchild11 April 2018

Experts are leading the largest ever study of its kind into a dangerous heart condition that led to music legend George Michael’s death.

Imperial College London is conducting the research involving 2,000 patients countrywide into dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which stretches the heart muscle so blood cannot be pumped around the body properly.

The condition affects an estimated 260,000 people in the UK with around 35,000 in London. Among them was Wham! singer Michael. In March last year, coroner Darren Salter found that Michael died of natural causes from dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.

Up to 650,000 more people may be at risk of developing the disease, which is the leading cause of heart failure.

Genetic mutations are to blame for DCM in some cases, but the disease, which can leave patients breathless and exhausted, is complex and poorly understood. Factors such as heavy drinking, pregnancy or even chemotherapy drugs may also act as triggers.

In 2013 Cathy Thurlow became the first person in Britain to be diagnosed with a new genetic variant of DCM 

James Ware, a clinical senior lecturer at Imperial and honorary consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton and Harefield, told the Evening Standard: “DCM is very poorly understood and often not present until late adulthood. Some people lead long lives while others end up needing a transplant or just collapse and die suddenly.

“Families often have to be monitored for years. Research advances would mean we could tell them if they were clear, or might need a transplant.

“Understanding the causes and who is at risk are the keys to new treatments and saving lives.”

The study is funded with £2 million from the British Heart Foundation and will run across six NHS trusts countrywide, including the Royal Brompton and Harefield. It will include imaging of the heart, and gene testing.

Cathy Thurlow, 50, from Richmond, in 2013 became the first person in Britain to be diagnosed with a new genetic variant of DCM. Doctors implanted a tiny defibrillator in her chest to help her heart pump normally.

The disease killed her 27-year-old brother Scott, her father was diagnosed at 68, and several other family members have the condition. Mrs Thurlow now faces discovering if any of her children — sons Nicholas, 19, and 18-year-old Alastair and daughter Mia, 10 — have the gene mutation.

The former digital marketing admin worker welcomed the study, saying: “I’m passionate about how it affects families as someone who lost her fit and sporty brother so suddenly. The more doctors know the more they can do.”

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