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This article examines risks associated with pregnancy and mechanical heart valves, highlighting anti-coagulation management and pre-pregnancy counselling.
Pregnancy is an exciting time, with great anticipation of the future for the woman and her baby. However, for women with mechanical heart valves (MHVs) pregnancy is a challenging undertaking fraught with risk to them and their baby. This article considers the issues for the woman, highlighting pre-surgical opportunities, pre-pregnancy counselling, the issues to consider with fertility treatment, the options during pregnancy for anti-coagulation management and the recognition and management of complications. This update stresses the complex challenges in the management of women with MHV during pregnancy and the need for specialist multi-disciplinary team involvement.
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Kelly et al. (2025) studied this question.
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