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CASE REPORT article

Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Cardiology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1478889

Case Report : severe pulmonary hypertension in a child with micronutrient deficiency

Provisionally accepted
Laure Pache-Wannaz Laure Pache-Wannaz 1*Cristiana Voicu Cristiana Voicu 1Laurence Boillat Laurence Boillat 2Nicole Sekarski Nicole Sekarski 1
  • 1 Pediatric Cardiology, Women-Mother-Child Department, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2 Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Women-Mother-Child Department, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We describe the rare case of a previously healthy seven year-old boy, with an acute clinical onset of severe pulmonary hypertension. He recovered rapidly after vitamin supplementation. Patient history showed a highly selective food intake in the context of autistic features. Thiamine deficiency seemed to be the predominant causing factor aggravated by moderate iron deficiency and supposed vitamin C deficiency. Dietary impact on pulmonary pressures is still poorly understood, but it seems that micronutrient deficiency could be a rare cause of pulmonary hypertension. Relatively frequent in developing countries and mostly in infants, thiamine deficiency should not be forgotten as a potential etiology in the differential diagnosis when patient dietary history is particular.

    Keywords: case report, pulmonary hypertension, Thiamine Deficiency, Micronutrient deficiency, Vitamin supplementation, selective food behavior

    Received: 11 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Pache-Wannaz, Voicu, Boillat and Sekarski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Laure Pache-Wannaz, Pediatric Cardiology, Women-Mother-Child Department, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland

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