Congestive heart failure in children.

摘要

Although revitalizing dead or severely injured myocardial cells is still beyond the reach of modern treatment, the ability to change the loading conditions and the contractile state of the heart has enabled practitioners to reverse deleterious compensatory mechanisms in patients with CHF. Several new and improved medicines have made this strategy possible. Early and determined surgical treatment of patients with CHF has enabled cure of some previously debilitating or fatal defects. The combined use of surgery and interventional catheterization has allowed many patients to profit from the benefits not available from either modality alone. In the future, cellular, subcellular, and gene therapy may make the treatment of patients with CHF simple and even prevent CHD.