Of note, there was neither a correlation of apoptotic cells with the amount of extracellular matrix deposition nor was there a difference between ischaemic (n = 5) and dilatative cardiomyopathy (n = 6) for collagen deposition or cleaved caspase 3 positive cells in our small cohort. The gene discussed is CASP3; the disease is dilated cardiomyopathy.