Giovanni Nigro and the Naples's school: historical contribution to the knowledge of heart involvement in Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophies.

Abstract

It is now accepted worldwide that cardiac involvement in Duchenne and Becker muscular Dystrophies, is a constant feature. The concurrent impairment of the heart as a muscle in dystrophic process was an inspired idea by Prof. Giovanni Nigro ten years before the discovery of the dystrophin gene, occurred in 1987. This article is intended to be a recognition to him and to the Neapolitan School he directed for the contribution in the knowledge of cardiac involvement in the course of Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) Muscular Dystrophies and in DMD/BMD carriers.