Acquired Heart Disease

Conditions and Treatments

The two most common forms of acquired heart disease in children include:

• Rheumatic Heart Disease -- This disease is the result of rheumatic fever caused by streptococcal bacteria. Most likely to strike children between 5 and 15 years old, rheumatic fever can scar heart valves to the point where they may not function properly.

• Kawasaki Disease -- Primarily occurring in children under the age of five, Kawasaki disease causes inflammation of the blood vessels that can result in damage to the coronary arteries and a widening of the vessel called an aneurysm.

Other acquired heart disorders may occur in children treated for congenital heart defects. These children have an increased risk of the following:

• Infective Endocarditis -- This is an infection of the heart's inner lining.

• Cardiomyopathy -- In this form of heart disease the heart is abnormally enlarged, thickened and/or stiffened, which impairs the heart's ability to pump blood throughout the body effectively.

Young children and teens also develop arrhythmias -- heartbeats that are slow, fast or irregular.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007