Tachycardiomyopathy with familial predisposition masquerading as peripartum cardiomyopathy

A 28-year-old pregnant lady presented with cardiomyopathy and atrial tachycardia. The patient had severe heart failure and syncope. Her past medical history was uneventful. Her mother, however, had received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. The patient was scheduled for programmed stimulation, during which a monomorphic ventricular tachycardia was induced. An ICD was then implanted. Following radiofrequency ablation of the atrial tachycardia, left ventricular function recovered completely. Given the family history, a genetic predisposition to both arrhythmias and tachycardiomyopathy needs to be considered.