Echocardiographic screening of 25 apparently healthy postpartum Haitian women detected asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in 16% of patients.
Case-Control (n=25)
No
Does echocardiography screening detect asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in apparently healthy postpartum Haitian women?
Echocardiographic screening of asymptomatic postpartum Haitian women revealed a 16% prevalence of unrecognized left ventricular dysfunction, suggesting a latent phase of peripartum cardiomyopathy.
OBJECTIVE: Haitian women have a high relative incidence of clinical presentation with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM): an incidence estimated at one case per three hundred live births, a ten-fold occurrence compared to American women. Our objective has been to test the hypothesis that some Haitian women may have a forme fruste of PPCM while still without clinical symptoms. METHOD: A preliminary case-control study was conducted at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), Deschapelles, Haiti, in which 25 apparently healthy postpartum women, without cardiovascular symptoms and with a normal cardiovascular clinical examination, were selected from a consecutive list of obstetrical deliveries and screened by echocardiography for left ventricular dysfunction. RESULT: Four out of 25 patients (16%) had asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction that subsequently evolved towards either improvement or deterioration. Supporting evidence for the existence of asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction or forme fruste PPCM is presented. A hypothetical schema of the pathophysiology of PPCM explains how a latent phase of variable duration may exist prior to onset of detectable clinical heart failure. CONCLUSION: Screening Haitian women during the last month of pregnancy or in the early postpartum period may help to detect asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction. Early detection and treatment of PPCM in a known high risk population could lead to improvements in maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity.
Fett et al. (Wed,) conducted a case-control in Peripartum cardiomyopathy (n=25). Echocardiography screening was evaluated on Asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction. Echocardiographic screening of 25 apparently healthy postpartum Haitian women detected asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in 16% of patients.