title: Echocardiographic evaluation of the failing heart.
abstract: Heart failure in children can result from a wide range of aetiologies and can manifest in systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction. Echocardiography is the primary test for the diagnosis and follow-up of children with heart failure. In this article, we critically review standard echocardiographic measurements that have been shown to have prognostic importance in children with various types of heart failure. Each of the common forms of cardiomyopathy that is encountered in childhood--dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, left ventricular non-compaction, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy--is discussed separately. Special attention is paid to the failing right ventricle, both in the systemic and in the sub-pulmonary position, to the failing univentricular heart, and to the assessment of diastolic function in children.
authors.affiliation: Ward Family Heart Center,Children's Mercy Hospital,Kansas City,Missouri,United States of America.
authors.forename: Anitha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parthiban
authors.affiliation: Ward Family Heart Center,Children's Mercy Hospital,Kansas City,Missouri,United States of America.
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shirali
mesh_terms: D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics; D011379:Prognosis; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
keywords: Echocardiography; children; diagnosis; heart failure