Peripartum cardiomyopathy is an uncommon form of dilated cardiomyopathy requiring specific medical management and careful consideration of future pregnancies based on functional recovery.
Supports individualized peripartum cardiomyopathy counseling; leaves open optimal recovery thresholds for future pregnancies.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy is an unusual and uncommon form of dilated cardiomyopathy that is often fatal to young women. Fetal outcome, however, is quite good. The disease occurs in 250-1350 women each year in the United States. Myocarditis of viral, immunologic, or idiopathic etiology has been suggested. Diagnostic findings are consistent with congestive heart failure. Primary therapy consists of bed rest, sodium and fluid restriction, vasodilators, digoxin, and diuretics. Refractory cases can be treated with cardiac transplantation. Selected patients require anticoagulation. Prognosis depends on 6-month recovery of left ventricular function. It is important to emphasize that functional recovery does not denote total recovery of cardiac function; this is critical in terms of future pregnancies. This article presents the case of a young woman with peripartum cardiomyopathy and a review of the literature.
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Skaluba et al. (2001) studied this question.
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