Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a non-exceptional, progressive complication of acute gastroenteritis in children, especially secondary to Escherichia coli infection. It is responsible for significant morbidity and significant mortality (10% of deaths) because of acute renal failure which often complicates it. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare but critical extra renal manifestation of the HUS. This article highlights the importance of considering the diagnosis of associated cardiomyopathy in the acute phase of HUS and the following months. A five-year-old boy presented with HUS with acute renal failure requiring peritoneal dialysis for 24 days. No cardiac signs appeared during the acute phase of the disease. After dialysis and normalization of blood pressure, fluid, and electrolyte disturbance, severe dilated cardiomyopathy with cardiac failure appeared three months later without definite etiology. A review of the literature confirmed the rare and severe nature of cardiac lesions occurring in HUS. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare but important extra renal manifestation of the HUS and is best demonstrated by echocardiography. A cardiac manifestation should also be screened for in the acute phase of HUS and several months later. <Learning objective: The main message to draw from this case is that despite the rarity of cardiac complications, routine echocardiographic screening of children with hemolytic uremic syndrome should be performed both in the acute phase and during subsequent follow-up even in the absence of clinical signs because of severe prognosis of this complication, and it is therefore the investigation of choice.>.
Keywords: Children; Dilated cardiomyopathy; Hemolytic uremic syndrome; Rare and late complication.
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