Chandra Sekhar Kondapalli1 , Srinivasa Rao K.T.S.2
BACKGROUND An understanding of cardiomyopathy (CMP) is very important, as it is a common cause of heart failure in children and the most common indication for heart transplantation in children older than 1 year. We wanted to evaluate the cardiomyopathies in children clinically and conduct an echocardiographic study of different types of cardiomyopathies. METHODS This is a hospital based descriptive study conducted in Katuri Medical College and Hospital, Guntur, among 32 children with cardiomyopathy who attended the departments of paediatrics and cardiology over a period of 2 years. RESULTS Dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy were the commonest cardiomyopathies seen in children. Dilated cardiomyopathy was the commonest myopathy observed in this series followed by HOCM and RCM. The incidence of cardiomyopathy was more in male children. The sex ratio is 1.28:1 (M:F). More number of cases were observed in children of 5 years with age ratio of 4.3:1. Majority of the patients were having the ejection fraction less than 40% particularly with dilated cardiomyopathy. Majority of the patients were having cardiomegaly on x-ray chest. ECG showed tachycardia, low voltage complexes, ST segment / T wave changes and arrhythmias. CONCLUSIONS Cardiomyopathies are heterogenous and rare diseases but not uncommon in children. They require complete evaluation to know the exact cause, pathophysiology, clinical pattern and natural history to prevent and treat appropriately because heart transplantation is the only treatment that can be given after exhausting all other treatment options.
