Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that decreases the heart’s
ability to pump blood, which can lead to heart failure. It’s a disease
that impacts infants, children and young adults. The heart muscles become
enlarged or weakened, preventing it from working as well as it should.
The Heart Failure/Cardiomyopathy Program at Children’s Hospital New
Orleans (CHNOLA), has an expert interdisciplinary team under the well-established
cardiology program that offers state-of-the-art expert care to help you
and your child live well with cardiomyopathy, from infancy to age 18 and
into early adulthood.
About the program
If your child has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy or carries a risk
of developing cardiomyopathy, we are here to offer expert diagnosis, ongoing
treatment, and support. By catching and treating cardiomyopathy early,
we can control your child’s symptoms, slow or stop its progress,
and avoid complications.
We specialize in diagnosing and managing all forms of cardiomyopathy in
children, including the three most common types of heart muscle disease:
Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (RCM)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)
Each of these can cause the heart muscle to get larger, thicken, or become
stiff. CHNOLA’s program offers life-saving mechanical circulatory
support options such as extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and
the Impella cardiac device for patients in end stage heart failure with
hemodynamic compromise.
This program also cares for kids with a family history of congenital heart
disease (heart defects present at birth) that can lead to problems with
the heart muscle.
What is Cardiomyopathy?
Cardiomyopathy is a condition that affects the structure and function of
the heart muscle. There are several forms of the disease, and each one
has a variety of possible causes and symptoms.
Cardiomyopathy differs from many other heart problems in that it can affect
children, tends to worsen fairly quickly, may be associated with diseases
involving organs other than the heart, can be undetectable before suddenly
presenting itself, and it’s the leading cause for pediatric heart
transplants.
In cases where the heart isn’t able to pump blood well, children
with cardiomyopathy may have pale, sweaty skin and feel fatigue, shortness
of breath, chest pain, irregular or rapid heartbeat, dizziness, or fainting,
and may be irritable. Some children may feel just fine and have no symptoms
despite having cardiomyopathy. Others may have a normal heart but be at
risk of developing cardiomyopathy over time.
What causes Cardiomyopathy?
Viral infections in the heart and genetic factors are a common cause of
cardiomyopathy, but often, the exact cause is unknown, which is called
idiopathic.
Some causes for cardiomyopathy include:
Genes
Viral infections
High blood pressure
Heart rhythm problems
Congenital heart defects
Certain medicines
A child may have one of these conditions for years without knowing it or
having symptoms. Some heart conditions are caused by genetic abnormalities
passed down through families. When children are diagnosed with these conditions,
we typically recommend their close family members be evaluated by a cardiologist, too.
How do we treat Cardiomyopathy?
We offer treatment options that are individualized for each child, with
a strong emphasis on quality of life. Unlike other congenital heart conditions,
there is currently no surgical or medical treatment to repair the damaged heart.
In some cases, the heart of a child or adult with a cardiomyopathy will
become progressively weaker. This can lead to heart failure (difficulty
breathing, difficulty eating, excessive sweating and poor growth). However,
in some cases, cardiomyopathies can be treated with medications that help
prolong health and decrease the progression of the disease.
Treatment options may include:
Medication to improve the functioning of the heart
Surgery to remove obstruction of enlarged heart muscle
Defibrillators (ICD) for cardiomyopathy patients with arrhythmia (irregular
heart rhythm)
Ventricular assist devices
Heart transplant for children who do not respond well to medical management
Our approach to care
We are dedicated to providing the best quality care for children with potential
life-threatening heart disease and giving them the best chance for survival.
We do this through offering:
Multidisciplinary team approach. We bring together pediatric cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardio-geneticists,
cardiac intensive care specialists, nurse practitioners, nurses, pediatric
psychologists, dietitians, and social workers to provide well-rounded
care for your child and family. We also collaborate with specialists across
our hospital to treat cardiomyopathy.
Evidence-based practices. We have proven, accredited experts focused on outcomes-based care, and
our physicians are performing cutting-edge advanced research on cardiomyopathy
and working with international research collaboratives so that your child
may benefit from new treatments.
Innovative initiatives. We improve care in cardiomyopathy patients with mechanical support devices
in heart failure and performing genetic testing for identifying familial
disease in cardiomyopathy.
Collaborating with other subspecialty disciplines. We provide specialized expertise from a variety of areas of areas, including
Hematology/Oncology patients, to provide complete care and a medical home
or all our patients’ needs.
Our Heart Disease/Cardiomyopathy Program diagnoses and manages patients
from before birth to age 21 who either currently have cardiomyopathy or
have a family history of it. As part of the program, your child will have
access to comprehensive care from our multidisciplinary team of experts.
We are guided by our responsibility to our patients, their outcomes and
their quality of life.
Our team consists of board certified pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons,
pediatric cardiologists, cardiac specialty nurse practitioners and other
nurses who are skilled experts in the field of pediatric cardiology. Our
team members are among the best in the country in the treatment of cardiomyopathies.
They work together to ensure your entire family receives the best care.
At Children's Hospital New Orleans, we offer the full spectrum of care
for your child from a multidisciplinary team of pediatric doctors and
professionals with extra training and knowledge in managing pediatric
cardiomyopathy. By providing several holistic services and treatments,
we empower your child and your family to live your best lives, despite
this chronic disease.
We provide both inpatient and outpatient consultation for diagnosis, management
and prognosis of all types of heart failure/cardiomyopathy. Some of the
more common forms include:
Failed congenital heart disease repair
Primary and secondary dilated cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Restrictive cardiomyopathy
Left ventricular non-compaction
Cardiomyopathy associated with neurologic/genetic disorders
In addition, we are able to use the best in cardiac assessment for evaluating
patients, which includes cardiac echocardiography with 3D modalities,
cardiac CT scan and cardiac MRI.
Services offered through our Cardiomyopathy Program include:
advanced diagnostic testing
individualized medication regimens
family screening and genetic assessment
implantable automatic defibrillator placement
ventricular assist device placement
surgical evaluation
heart transplantation
customized second opinion evaluation and care plan
partnership and collaboration with each family's local pediatrician and/
or cardiac caregiver
Location Children’s Hospital New Orleans
Cardiology Clinic
200 Henry Clay Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70003
What is Cardiomyopathy?
