[Dilated cardiomyopathy in infants and children].

Three cases of dilated cardiomyopathy manifested at 2, 5, and 13 months of age are reported. The clinical, radiographic, electrocardiographic, echocardiographic and angiocardiographic findings are analyzed. The follow up during 11, 14 and 16 years is described. After several years of the onset, 2 patients recovered a normal cardiac function. The third patient required a cardiac transplant when he was 9 years old, and now, after 2 and a half years, he is healthy, without congestive heart failure. Current references about indications of cardiac transplant in this disease are reviewed. We got the following conclusion: In patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, at least in those who begin before 2 years, the indication and the time of the cardiac transplant have to be established by individual valuation of each case, considering the follow up of the risk's criteria, mainly the congestive heart failure.