Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Children: A Single Medical Center's Experience

Abstract

The diagnosis of idiopathic DCM in children is associated with a generally poor prognosis. The lack of available donors results in significant mortality for pediatric patients awaiting transplantation. Advocating organ donation to increase the size of the organ donor pool is needed to significantly reduce the mortality rate in such patients.

Outcome predictors for pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy: A systematic review

“…Lewis and Chabot 21 reported identical results: arrhythmias were present in 16% of survivors and in 53% of those who died (P<0.05). Noguiera et al 22 and Weng et al 23 reported similar results, but Chen et al 24 , Friedman et al 25 , and Muller et al 18 found no difference in the presence of arrhythmias between survivors and non-survivors.…”

“…All children with an ejection fraction greater than 35% survived. Weng et al 23 found that LVEF predicted death in 18 children in Taiwan, and Azevedo et al 27 found it to be an independent predictor of death in a multivariate survival analysis.…”

Clinical profiles and outcomes for Omani children with dilated cardiomyopathy seen in a regional referral hospital

“…dial disease, of diverse aetiology, which is characterized by left ventricular dilation and systolic dysfunction. 1 It has been reported from several countries, [2][3][4][5][6][7] and described for several age groups. 8 Remarkably, most of the reports have drawn attention to the generally severe course of the disease, and especially to its unsatisfactory response to standard anti-failure medication.…”

“…8 Remarkably, most of the reports have drawn attention to the generally severe course of the disease, and especially to its unsatisfactory response to standard anti-failure medication. [2][3][4]7,9 Reports have mostly come from tertiary centres, raising the possibility of a selection bias in favour of the very sick patients. Reports of the disease in Arab children are scanty.…”

Sudden Cardiac Death in Dilated Cardiomyopathies

“… Risk factors present in two or more series include a low LVEF (positive predictor in eight studies and negative in two), a high LVED or LVED/PW ratio (positive in two studies and negative in one), a high LVEDP, a large C/T ratio, right ventricular failure, age more than 2 years (positive in three studies and negative in two), age more than 5–6 years, presence of arrhythmias (positive in six studies and negative in two), a positive family history, the presence of clots or need for anticoagulation, symptoms of heart failure (positive in four studies and negative in one), prolonged symptom duration, and left atrial dilatation 13,15,41–43,52,63,89–102 …”