My son has heart failure – Niakoro

My son has heart failure

My son has heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome that reflects the inability of the myocardium to satisfy the circulatory and metabolic demands of the organism. It could be caused by multiples etiologies, congenital cardiac defects, cardiac infections (myocarditis), unknown familial cardiomyopathies (disorders of the heart muscle), diseases of the metabolism causing damage to the heart, or disturbances of the heart rhythm resulting in progressive impairment of the heart function.

Respiratory distress is classically the first sign of HF in the young child, and tiredness in the feeding and no gaining weight appear during the follow-up.  Signs of “breathlessness” and shortness of breath sometimes are confused as episodes of bronchitis and are secondary to the dilation of the heart (cardiomegaly) due to not pumping blood properly. Diagnostic studies are carried out to establish the cause of HF and medications are started to improve symptoms. Currently, different treatments exist depending on the diagnosis, but if the weakness of heart muscle is severe with clinical repercussion, heart transplantation is the only long-term solution.

Dra.Dimpna Albert
administrator
  • Enfocada en insuficiencia cardiaca y trasplante cardiaco infantil.
  • Cardiólogo pediátrico en King Faisal Specialist Hospital & RC en Riad.
  • Director médico del programa de Trasplante infantil del Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona 2010-2019.
  • Miembro del Educational Committee de la Asociacion Europea de Cardiología pediátrica (AEPC) 2016-hoy.
  • Focus in the care of children with severe heart failure and pediatric cardiac transplantation.
  • Pediatric cardiologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & RC in Riyadh.
  • Medical Director of Pediatric Heart Transplant Program at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona. Spain 2010-2019
  • Member of Educational Committee of the Association for the European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC) 2016-present.
  • Comments

    • Jamesfrott
      29/04/2020

      Wow, gorgeous site. Thnx …

    • Thank you for your feedback, James. The website is being improving, more topics and contents will be added soon

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