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Front Pediatr 2020 16;8:347. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery Unit, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.

Pulmonary artery banding (PAB) is reported as an innovative strategy for children with end-stage heart failure (ESHF) to bridge to transplantation or recovery. We report our early experience with PAB to evaluate outcomes, indications, and limitations. This is a single-center prospective clinical study, including infants and children admitted for ESHF owing to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) with preserved right ventricular function after failure of maximal conventional therapy. Read More

J Am Heart Assoc 2020 08 30;9(15):e015916. Epub 2020 Jul 30.

Department of Pediatrics Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences University at Buffalo NY.

Background In adults with heart failure, elevated heart rate is associated with lower survival. We determined whether an elevated heart rate was associated with an increased risk of death or heart transplant in children with dilated cardiomyopathy. Methods and Results The study is an analysis of the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry and includes baseline data, annual follow-up, and censoring events (transplant or death) in 557 children (51% male, median age 1. Read More

AACE Clin Case Rep 2020 Jan-Feb;6(1):e1-e4. Epub 2019 Aug 28.

Objective: Microcephalic primordial dwarfism (MPD) is a group of clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorders which result in severe prenatal and postnatal growth failure. X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 4 () is a causative gene for an autosomal recessive form of MPD. The objective of this report is to describe novel mutations in a female infant with MPD, dilated cardiomyopathy, and subclinical hypothyroidism. Read More

Circ Heart Fail 2019 12 13;12(12):e006427. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Department of Cardiology (R.N., K.P., N.R.J., M.R.S., H.E.B.), Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

Background: Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) have impaired functional capacity and inferior quality of life. The clinical manifestations are associated with structural and functional impairments in skeletal muscle, emphasizing a need for feasible rehabilitation strategies beyond optimal anticongestive medical treatment. We investigated whether low-load blood flow restricted resistance exercise (BFRRE) or remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) could improve functional capacity and quality of life in patients with CHF and stimulate skeletal muscle myofibrillar and mitochondrial adaptations. Read More

Rev Soc Bras Med Trop 2019 2;52:e20190386. Epub 2019 Dec 2.

Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Uberaba, MG, Brasil.

Introduction: Chronic chagasic cardiopathy (CCC) is essentially a dilated cardiomyopathy in which a subacute, but constant chronic inflammatory process causes progressive destruction of the heart tissue. The action of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), and anti-inflammatory cytokines, like interleukin IL-10 and IL-17, plays a fundamental role in the immunopathogenesis and evolution of disease. Early anti-congestive therapy, aimed at changing the morbidity and mortality rate, has been shown to reduce disease progression and to alter patients' immune response pattern. Read More