Pediatric Heart Failure Clinic
The Pediatric Heart Failure Clinic at Phoenix Children's Hospital offers state-of-the-art pediatric cardiovascular care, beginning with a comprehensive evaluation that allows us to understand your child's heart problem fully. We take great pride in providing individualized management for our patients and their families. We recognize that family-oriented, comprehensive care and follow-up are critical to achieving a successful outcome. Parents and caregivers are key members of the child's healthcare team, and we work closely with you and with your child's referring physicians to implement the best plan of care. Our treatment plan takes advantage of the most advanced medical therapies, as well as cutting-edge interventions in cardiology and open-heart surgery procedures, including heart transplant.
Diagnosis and Evaluation
Phoenix Children’s Pediatric Heart Failure Clinic provides a comprehensive evaluation for each patient. Diagnostic tools used include:
- Advanced imaging, such as CT, MRI and ECHO
- Laboratory services, including genetic testing
- Cardiac catheterization with angiography
- Endomyocardial biopsy
Conditions Treated
The Heart Failure Clinic manages heart failure from a variety of conditions, including:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy
- Genetic arrhythmias and inhereted cardiomyopathies
- Dilated cardiomyopathy
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Heart failure after repair of congenital heart disease
Treatment Options
The first line of treatment for heart failure is medication. Medications prescribed may include:
- Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I)
- Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB)
- Beta blockers
- Antiarrhythmic medications
- Diuretics
Pacemakers and Defibrillators
After medication therapy is used, the physician may recommend installing a pacemaker or internal cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Simple internal defibrillators can rescue patients with heart failure from sudden cardiac arrest while biventricular pacemakers and ICD’s can also treat heart failure when is it caused or accompanied by abnormal electrical activation within the heart’s conduction system. This is called cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).
Mechanical Assistance Device
Another treatment option for heart failure are mechanical assistant devices, such as ECMO or ventricular assist device (VAD). ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is an external heart-lung machine capable of supporting the function of the heart and lungs on people with cardiac or pulmonary failure. ECMO can be deployed in under an hour and is capable of supporting someone for several weeks. Ventricular assist devices (VAD) are small external blood pumps that can take over the pumping function of the heart in people with heart failure. These pumps need to be surgically implanted and are capable of long term support while awaiting heart transplantation.
Transplant
If heart failure is not treatable with the above options, the physicians may recommend a heart transplant. Read more about our pediatric heart transplant program.
Multidisciplinary Team
- Cardiothoracic Surgeons
- Cardiologists
- Critical Care Intensivists
- Infectious Disease Physicians
- Pathologists
- Cardiac Anesthesiologists
- Pulmonologists
- Nephrologists
- Pharmacists
- Child Life specialists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Dietitians
- Nurses
- Geneticists
- Neuromuscular Specialists
Contact Us
For more information on the Pediatric Heart Failure Clinic, please call 602-933-3366.
