Tachycardia-induced Cardiomyopathy in a Teenage Boy

Abstract

Tachycardiomyopathy or tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) is a relatively rare but completely or partially treatable condition, where there is an impairment of left ventricular (LV) function secondary to chronic, continuous, or intermittent tachycardia, which presents as heart failure. It has been shown that the rate control by means such as cardioversion, negative chronotropic agents, and surgical- or catheter-based atrioventricular nodal ablation, depending on the etiology, resulted in significant improvement of systolic function. The diagnosis of TIC is entertained following the observation of improvement in LV systolic function, after necessary therapy to control the arrhythmia or heart rate. It is necessary that the clinicians should have a high index of suspicion while dealing with LV systolic dysfunction or dilated cardiomyopathy and should control the arrhythmia stringently. This case report describes a 14-year-old boy presenting with breathlessness of 18–24-month duration who had features of dilated cardiomyopathy on echocardiography. Impaired LV systolic function was due to fascicular ventricular tachycardia and he recovered completely after catheter-based ablation within a period of 5–6 months.