Important Considerations in Pediatric Heart Failure

Abstract

Purpose of review: The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of contemporary knowledge specific to the causes, management, and outcome of heart failure in children.

Recent findings: While recently there have been subtle improvements in heart failure outcomes in children, these improvements lag significantly behind that of adults. There is a growing body of literature suggesting that pediatric heart failure is a unique disease process with age- and disease-specific myocardial adaptations. In addition, the heterogenous etiologies of heart failure in children contribute to differential response to therapies and challenge the ability to obtain meaningful results from prospective clinical trials. Consideration of novel clinical trial designs with achievable but clinically relevant endpoints and focused study of the mechanisms underlying pediatric heart failure secondary to cardiomyopathies and structural heart disease are essential if we hope to advance care and identify targeted and effective therapies.

Keywords: Cardiomyopathy; Congenital heart disease; Heart failure.