Kalev’s story: Advances in medical management of pediatric heart failure

In recent years, the Boston Children’s Hospital Heart Failure team has made significant strides in slowing the progress of heart failure in children. In some cases, disease progression has been slowed enough for the patient to be taken off of the heart transplant list for being “too well.” The following is part three of a four-part series featuring Heart Center patients who were once listed for transplant but were removed thanks to successful medical management of his or her heart disease. Searching for answers Thirty weeks into her second pregnancy, Katie Rosenthal just felt like something was wrong. She asked her obstetrician for another ultrasound and soon discovered that her unborn baby’s heart was in serious danger. Almost immediately, Katie was admitted to a large hospital close to home in Colorado. The fetal cardiologists weren’t exactly sure what they were dealing with but decided to place Katie on an extremely high dose of digoxin in the hopes that the drug would get to her unborn child’s heart and help it contract. After spending four days at the hospital, Katie and her husband Eric decided they needed a more conclusive diagnosis regarding what was really wrong with their baby’s heart. They went to another hospital in Colorado and received a new diagnosis. Confused, anxious and determined to do what was best for their child, the Rosenthals asked family friends in the medical field as well as their pediatrician: “What would you do if it was your chil...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our patients’ stories congenital heart disease Dr. Leslie Smoot Dr. Pedro del Nido Dr. Sitiram Emani Dr. Wayne Tworetsky heart failure heart transplant Heart transplant program Source Type: news