Abstract
CARDIOVASCULAR abnormalities are common in children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection,
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but little is known about their cause or clinical course. The cardiovascular effects of zidovudine, which is used to treat most children with symptomatic HIV infection in the United States,
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have also not been well characterized. This drug has been reported to affect cardiac muscle adversely in rats.
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The mechanism appears similar to that noted in skeletal muscle in humans, in which a distinct myopathy has been observed.
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Recent recommendations to withhold antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients with cardiomyopathy or congestive heart failure
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and to consider serial endomyocardial . . .
