Treatment Strategies for Cardiomyopathy in Children

Published: June 08, 2023

young girl smiles while making heart symbol with hands
  • Treatment strategies for cardiomyopathy in children should be designed to develop personalized therapy for each patient through an effort to identify a) the specific cardiac pathophysiology(ies) and, if possible, b) the root cause or specific etiology that exist in each patient.
  • Pediatric cardiomyopathy should be recognized as a problem that may be diagnosed in a variety of clinical milieus: a) patients at risk for cardiomyopathy with a negative phenotype; b) patients with a positive cardiomyopathy phenotype but asymptomatic; c) symptomatic cardiomyopathy, and d) end-stage disease. Therapeutic strategies should be tailored to the specific clinical milieu in each patient.
  • Heart failure in children differs in important ways from heart failure in adults. Recent studies have found distinct pathologic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiles in pediatric heart failure compares to adults. In addition, children lack many of the comorbid conditions present in adults. These differences may influence the efficacy of adult heart failure treatments when applied in pediatric patients.