Restrictive Cardiomyopathy in a Child

Abstract

Restrictive cardiomyopathy in young children is rare and carries a poor prognosis. We report an 18-month-old girl with poor feeding and abdominal distension. Except for hepatomegaly, no other gastrointestinal abnormalities were found. She had normalsized ventricles but biatrial enlargement. Echocardiography demonstrated normal systolic but impaired diastolic function. Cardiac catheterization revealed a characteristic dip-and-plateau configuration of the right ventricular pressure tracing. The diagnosis turned out to be typical restrictive cardiomyopathy. The patient was maintained on aspirin while awaiting cardiac transplant.

Keywords

• cardiac catheterization
• child
• restrictive cardiomyopathy