Three patients presenting with severe macrosomia and congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a case series

Macrosomia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are two features often associated in neonates of diabetic mothers. We report the cases of three patients with severe macrosomia and critical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without severely unbalanced maternal diabetes. Only three patients with those two features and no uncontrolled maternal diabetes have been previously reported.

The first patient was a 39-week-old girl, the second patient was a 39-week-old girl, and the third patient was a 41-week-old boy. The two French girls and the French boy had severe macrosomia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, leading to the death of the boy. The outcome of the two girls was favorable, with a standardization of growth curves and ventricular hypertrophy. Their mothers presented with high body mass index but no severe documented maternal diabetes; glycemic imbalance was only suspected on postnatal analyses. There was no hydramnios during pregnancy and no other environmental factor, especially toxic exposure. Their parents are from Mayotte, Guadeloupe, and Guinea-Conakry. The usual genetics causes, Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, and chromosomal copy number variation, were also excluded.

This report suggests the implication of other factors in addition to glycemic disorders, including genetic factors, in the occurrence of macrosomia and severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in neonates. These three original observations indicate that gynecologists and neonatologists should pay attention to neonates from mothers with a high body mass index and when maternal diabetes is not documented.