Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Heart Failure in Children with CHD and Cardiomyopathies

Heart failure (HF) is an expanding field in pediatric cardiac medicine, partly because of our ability to early diagnose it and the advancing medical therapies that have helped to improve survival, but also due to the progress made in various forms of pediatric cardiac surgeries that resulted in prolonged survival of children with congenital heart diseases (CHDs). These patients can live now longer for decades, although a good percentage of them will sustain a degree of cardiac dysfunction either due to myocardial abnormalities or the presence of residual lesions, especially those patients who underwent a staged palliation for their functionally single ventricle conditions. All of these factors have led to a higher number of surviving pediatric cardiac patients with HF who need to be cared for.