Pregnancy-related plasma volume changes can cause dramatic increases in intrathoracic impedance (OptiVol Fluid index) in the absence of clinical heart failure.
A device interrogation for a 32-year-old woman with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator capable of monitoring intrathoracic impedance demonstrated a dramatic increase in her OptiVol Fluid index levels in the absence of clinical heart failure. The timing of her intrathoracic impedance changes correlated with plasma volume changes during an uneventful pregnancy without cardiovascular complications. The strengths and limitations of intrathoracic impedance are described in the context of the physiology of pregnancy.
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Kramer et al. (2010) studied this question.
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