Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 September 2015
Heart failure in children can result from a wide range of aetiologies and can manifest in systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction. Echocardiography is the primary test for the diagnosis and follow-up of children with heart failure. In this article, we critically review standard echocardiographic measurements that have been shown to have prognostic importance in children with various types of heart failure. Each of the common forms of cardiomyopathy that is encountered in childhood – dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, left ventricular non-compaction, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy – is discussed separately. Special attention is paid to the failing right ventricle, both in the systemic and in the sub-pulmonary position, to the failing univentricular heart, and to the assessment of diastolic function in children.
Presented at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute, International Pediatric Heart Failure Summit, Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States of America, 4–5 February, 2015.