The rare case of endocardial fibroelastosis in the newborn

Abstract

Endocardial fibroelastosis (EF) is one of the rare and under-studied problems of pediatric cardiology. Despite the fact that the disease was described almost 80 years ago, the problem of EF remains unresolved in pediatrics. This is due to the insufficient study of etiopathogenesis, the complexity of prenatal and neonatal diagnostics. Since the mid-twentieth century and until recently, the main cause of EF was considered to be transplacental viral infections caused early congenital carditis, and in a result of which development of cardiomyopathy with a predominance of fibrosclerotic processes. Currently, a certain role in the genesis of EF is given to genetic factors. Thus, EF can be considered as a cardiomyopathy, the cause of which is any cardiac stress. In this article, the authors discribe the issues of epidemiology and etiology of the disease, modern methods of diagnosis, including antenatal diagnostics, and also present a clinical case report of EF in a newborn.