Our morphometric study showed that the extent of GMD reduction was correlated with the severity of acute HF, quantified by the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and serum concentration of the N-terminal fragment of the pro-hormone brain-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), pointing to a possible direct pathophysiological link.3 However, counterintuitively, we did not detect any relationship between GMD and cognitive performance in these patients. The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is hydrops fetalis.