Cardiac resynchronization therapy in children

Cardiac Resynchronization therapy has become an important management tool in adults with heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy. The role of CRT in children with CHF is still unclear. Evidence is slowly emerging in the pediatric cardiology literature that CRT may have an important and useful role in certain select populations with CHF. These include patients with complete heart block who develop pacing-induced cardiomyopathy, certain forms of congenital heart disease associated with systemic ventricular failure (even if the systemic ventricle is a morphologic RV) and in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Studies in children supporting the use of CRT include many case reports, a few studies of CRT in post-operative patients, and one multi-center registry reporting the use of CRT in children. These papers will be summarized.