There are several types of cardiomyopathies that can affect children. Our multidisciplinary team of experts is highly experienced in diagnosing and treating all cardiomyopathies. When caught early, we can better manage your child’s symptoms and change the progress of the disease.
Understanding the different types of cardiomyopathies
- Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In this most common form of cardiomyopathy, the heart muscle becomes enlarged and stretched (dilated), causing the heart to become weak and not pump well. There are many possible causes of DCM in children. It may be caused by genetic changes that run in families, abnormalities of the heart valves or blood vessels (coronaries), infection, muscular dystrophies (genetic disorders of the skeletal and heart muscle), or toxic drugs such as those used for cancer treatments.
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This type creates thicker-than-normal heart muscle and puts children at risk for heart rhythm abnormalities, which in turn can cause fainting or, rarely, unexpected sudden cardiac arrest. About half of all children with this disease inherited it as a mutated or damaged gene, which may affect other family members.
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). In this uncommon disease, the heart ventricles become stiff and can’t relax to allow blood flow. RCM can be caused by inherited genetic changes that affect the heart muscle or exposure to cancer therapies, such as radiation, but the cause is often unknown.
- Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC). An abnormality of how the heart muscle develops, forming increased ridges in the heart pump muscle. The heart function may be normal or decreased; muscle walls can be thin or thickened and can vary over time. Conduction abnormalities in the heart and increased risk for blood clot formation can occur.
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). ARVC is a rare type of inherited cardiomyopathy that occurs when the muscle tissue in the right ventricle has scar tissue. The left ventricle is often affected as well. The scar tissue disrupts the heart's electrical system, causing arrhythmias or abnormal heart beats.
Treatments available for cardiomyopathies
At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, we offer proven treatments and specialized procedures and surgeries to care for your child’s cardiomyopathy, starting with the most advanced diagnostics available.
- Cardiac monitoring. When it is caught early, the majority of children with cardiomyopathy do not experience heart failure or need invasive treatments. As part of our care, we keep a close eye on your child with nonsymptomatic or early-stage cardiomyopathy (or another related condition) over time so that we can identify early signs of the disease and treat preventatively.
- Heart medicines. Medicines can help your child’s heart beat better and pump blood more easily. Medicines may slow the changes that occur in the heart muscle over time.
- Electrophysiology treatments. If your child has an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), we partner with our Pediatric Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Program team to provide treatment, which may include ablation (burning or freezing to fix an irregular heartbeat), medicine, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to stop the heart from beating too fast, or a pacemaker to regulate the heart’s electrical signals.
- Heart failure treatments. As part of our Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Therapies (PACT) program, a leader in heart failure therapies, your child will receive innovative care for heart failure. This may include heart surgery to correct structural heart problems, and/or a ventricular assist device (VAD) to keep the heart pumping while awaiting heart transplant. Our talented pediatric heart surgeons treat some of the most critically ill children in the nation and world. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford’s pediatric heart transplant numbers are the highest in California, and our long-term results for complicated heart transplants are outstanding, better than the national average.
Have questions? Call us for more information: (650) 426-0686
