Q: My 8 months old daughter has been diagnosed with acquired dilated cardiomyopathy. She has undergone hospitalisation and reported to be stable now. She is one of our twins who were born premature in the 33rd week. During that time there were no symptoms and paediatric check ups have revealed steady weight gain and all milestones have been achieved as per schedule. My questions are: 1. How long on an average does the treatment take to get the heart back to normal now that she has shown signs of improvement and not progression of the disease? 2. Any other tips that you can give us regarding treatment and care?

A:Before accepting the diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy two important reversible conditions need to be ruled out: 1) Coarctation of aorta. 2) Anomalous origin of left coronary artery from pulmonary artery. A good ECHO is necessary to specifically address this issue. We are routinely giving IgG in patients diagnosed post myocarditis cardiomyopathy because there is data to suggest that it may reverse the process. I think you should consult a pediatric cardiologist.