About the Lab
The research work of the Phoebe Willingham Muzzy Pediatric Molecular Cardiology Laboratory includes the identification of the underlying causes of heart muscle disease and congenital heart disease, as well as the translation of these discoveries to the care of children with heart disease through our clinical services at the Heart Center at Texas Children's Hospital and through the John Welsh Cardiovascular Diagnostic Laboratory.
Cardiomyopathy
Congestive heart failure due to poor heart function (cardiomyopathy) is a serious heart muscle disease, which is a major cause of death and disability in children and adults. These disorders are the most common diseases leading to cardiac transplantation, with an associated cost of approximately $200 million/year in the United States. The cardiomyopathies are classified into five forms:
- Dilated Cardiomyopathy
- Left Ventricular Non-Compaction
- Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
- Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy
- Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
DCM is the most common form of cardiomyopathy, occurring in 60 percent of cases. There are more than 10,000 deaths annually in the United States due to cardiomyopathy, with DCM being the major contributor to this death rate.
Congenital Heart Disease
More than one million Americans are estimated to suffer from cardiovascular defects, and greater than one percent of all infants born each year have a congenital heart defect resulting in congenital heart disease being the leading cause of birth-defect-related deaths in the United States. Multiple forms of CHD have been described including the following:
- Shunt Lesions
- "Holes In the Heart"
- Ventricular Septal Defect
- Atrial Septal Defect
- Atrioventricular Canal
- Patent Ductus Arteriosus
- Obstructive Lesions
- Left Heart Obstruction
- Aortic Stenosis/Aortic Atresia
- Bicuspid Aortic Valve
- Mitral Stenosis/Mitral Atresia
- Pulmonary Vein Stenosis/Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return
- Coarctation of the Aorta
- Interrupted Aortic Arch
- Subvalvar Aortic Stenosis
- Supravalvar Aortic Stenosis
- Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
- Right Heart Obstruction
- Tricuspid Atresia/Tricuspid Stenosis
- Pulmonic Stenosis/Pulmonary Atresia
- Ebstein's Anomaly
- Truncus Arteriosus
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Cyanotic Heart Disease
- Transposition of the Great Arteries
- Heterotaxy Syndrome
- Double Outlet Right Ventricle
