Heart failure caused by VGAM: a lesson for diagnosis and treatment from a case and literature review

We describe the case of a neonate with signs of heart failure. Echocardiography showed a structural normal heart shape with left ventricular dysfunction. At 2 months of age, a vein of Galen arteriovenous malformation was diagnosed through a brain magnetic resonance imaging. Embolization therapy was accomplished and a clinical and neurological follow-up was started. This clinical case highlights how important it is considering an intracranial cause in the differential diagnosis of neonatal congestive heart failure (CHF). We performed a narrative minireview of the literature about treatments and outcome of this malformation in association to CHF, to point out how complex the diagnosis of vein of Galen aneurysmal malformation (VGAM) may be and how an early diagnosis is important for its management.