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Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: Restrictive Cardiomyopathy in ChildrenForum: The Heart Forum
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My son, Carlos, at age 4, was first diagnosed with congenital heart failure. Doctors then realized he had tricuspid regurgitation. On January 1998 he had open-heart surgery and his tricuspid valve was repaired. For the next month and a half Carlos recuperated marvelous, but it was not until mid-March that he suffered several complications. He then had several echocardiograms along with a heart catherization. Echocardiograms revealed he had mild tricuspid stenosis, mild tricuspid regurgitation, pericardial effusion, and inferior vena caval and hepatic dilation. Carlos was treated for his effusion with corticosteroids. His heart catherization results indicated he has restrictive cardiomyopathy. I would like to know weather Carlos could have had his cardiomyopathy before surgery, or after his open heart surgery. Also, what happens now, what kind of treatment is out there other than diuretics? Is there any research being done on this kind of heart problem? Does the patient get better or worse throughout time? I would very much appreciate your response to this matter. Thank you very much. Karla -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your question. I am sorry to hear of your son's difficulties. It is difficult to answer your question without all of the data from the tests. The best thing I would recommend is to make an appointment with his cardiologist to sit down and go over all of your questions. These are valid concerns and should be addressed by his doctors. If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
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