Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2023; 11(22): 5412-5415
Published online Aug 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i22.5412
Caution in the use of sedation and endomyocardial biopsy for the management of pediatric acute heart failure caused by endocardial fibroelastosis
Xiao-Xuan Xin, Yo-Yeng Se
Xiao-Xuan Xin, School of Hulunbuir Clinical Medicine, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Hulunbuir 021000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Yo-Yeng Se, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Yo-Yeng Se, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Author contributions: Se YY compiled literature and data; Xin XX drafted the paper and created Figure 1; Se YY reviewed and revised the final version of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yo-Yeng Se, MSc, Researcher, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lui Che Woo Clinical Sciences Building, Prince of Wales Hospital, Room 94020, 7/F, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong 999077, China. yoyengcityu@yeah.net
Received: April 30, 2023
Peer-review started: April 30, 2023
First decision: June 19, 2023
Revised: July 4, 2023
Accepted: July 17, 2023
Article in press: July 17, 2023
Published online: August 6, 2023
Processing time: 95 Days and 5.3 Hours
Abstract

Endocardial fibroelastosis (EFE) is commonly considered to be an inflammatory reactive lesion of hyperplasia and deposition of tissue fibers and collagen in the endocardium and/or subendocardium, which is strongly associated with endocardial sclerosis, ventricular remodeling and acute and chronic heart failure, and is one of the important causes for pediatric heart transplantation. Early diagnosis and treatment are the key factors in determining the prognosis of the children. In this paper, we would like to highlight the potential unintended consequences of the use of sedation and biopsy for pediatric acute heart failure caused by EFE and the comprehensive considerations prior to clinical diagnosis.

Keywords: Endocardial fibroelastosis; Sedation in children; Endomyocardial biopsy; Comprehensive clinical diagnosis

Core Tip: The high-risk medical operation for the clinical diagnosis of pediatric acute heart failure due to endocardial fibroelastosis remains debatable, and the medical management of sedation and biopsy requires a comprehensive assessment of the indications and contraindications in children.