SSM Health Medical Minute: Inside the heart failure clinic at Cardinal Glennon
ST. LOUIS – According to the Children’s Heart Foundation, about 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart defects in the U.S. each year. Heart failure can be caused when the heart develops or has electrical problems, causing abnormal heart rhythms. Other medical or genetic disorders may also lead to heart failure.
In infants, heart failure symptoms are often subtle, including poor feeding, some breathing difficulty, and possibly swelling of the feet, ankles, lower legs, abdomen, face, or neck.
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is a lifeline for kids with heart problems.
“The Heart Failure Clinic specializes in taking care of kids whose hearts are struggling. Essentially, heart failure is a condition where the heart is not able to keep up with its job of delivering oxygen to the body and the tissues,” Dr. Erica Bonura, a pediatric cardiologist at Cardinal Glennon, said. “Our clinic focuses on taking care of patients along the full spectrum of that condition, whether it’s due to an underlying heart muscle disease or related to congenital heart disease.”
Cardinal Glennon has a comprehensive team of specialists to evaluate and treat children diagnosed with heart failure, offering some of the most advanced procedures.
“Cardinal Glennon is a state-of-the-art children’s hospital with many resources from a cardiac standpoint,” Bonura said. “We provide kind of the full spectrum of care, especially for patients with heart failure.”
Parents should always watch for red flags like changes in your child’s activity level, stomach issues, vomiting, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Older children and teens may feel tired faster, have an irregular heartbeat, labored breathing, or develop a chronic cough. They also may have a need to urinate more often at night.
Bonura says parents should always take their child in for an evaluation if they notice any of these symptoms.
“If there’s kind of new symptoms that you’re concerned about, never hesitate to ask and to bring your kid in for evaluation,” she said.
To learn more about the heart failure clinic at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, click here.
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