Why the study?
Understanding pregnancy-associated myocardial adaptations is important for echocardiographers and clinicians undertaking or interpreting echocardiograms on pregnant and post-partum women.
This position statement provides standardized guidance for the echocardiographic assessment of structural and functional cardiovascular adaptations during and after pregnancy.
Supports adoption of structured echo protocols in pregnancy; extends prior consensus for standardized clinical and research assessment.
Pregnancy is a dynamic process associated with profound hormonally mediated haemodynamic changes which result in structural and functional adaptations in the cardiovascular system. An understanding of the myocardial adaptations is important for echocardiographers and clinicians undertaking or interpreting echocardiograms on pregnant and post-partum women. This guideline, on behalf of the British Society of Echocardiography and United Kingdom Maternal Cardiology Society, reviews the expected echocardiographic findings in normal pregnancy and in different cardiac disease states, as well as echocardiographic signs of decompensation. It aims to lay out a structure for echocardiographic scanning and surveillance during and after pregnancy as well as suggesting practical advice on scanning pregnant women.
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Curtis et al. (2023) studied this question.
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