IMPACT OF TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY ON DECISION MAKING IN CHILDREN PRESENTING WITH ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISTRESS AND HEART FAILURE - A ONE YEAR PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory distress is a clinical state characterized by abnormal respiratory rate or effort respiratory distress includes increased work of breathing (e.g., tachypnoea or hyperventilation), inadequate respiratory effort (e.g., hypoventilation or bradypnea), and irregular breathing. Regardless of the cause, if it is not recognized and managed, it can accelerate to respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest. Heart failure (HF) is a term that is simple to implement but challenging to define. Only a few of the many definitions of HF that have been proposed have gained widespread acceptance1 ."HF as a complex clinical syndrome that results from any structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of blood" is how the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines define the condition. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the value of Echocardiography (ECHO) in diagnosis and decision-making in critically ill children suffering from acute respiratory distress associated with heart failure admitted in PICU.