Key result
A 36-year-old woman developed inverted stress-induced cardiomyopathy presenting as acute heart failure after a cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia with ephedrine, with complete recovery by day 5.
Case Report (n=1)
Inverted stress-induced cardiomyopathy can occur as a rare variant of acute heart failure in the postpartum period, particularly following cesarean delivery with spinal anesthesia and ephedrine use.
Postpartum acute HF after cesarean may represent inverted stress cardiomyopathy; single case leaves open anesthesia or ephedrine causality.
BACKGROUND: Stress- induced cardiomyopathy is acute, reversible left ventricle mainly apical dysfunction in patients with normal coronary angiography. Rarely it regards basal segments, therefore defined as "inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy". While classic form mostly affects postmenopausal women, inverted variant occurs essentially in younger females, always triggered by stress. It can also develop after medical procedures and surgery. Herein we report such unique case of 36- year old woman after cesarean delivery. CASE PRESENTATION: A 36- year- old white woman at 40 week of gestation was admitted to hospital for elective repeated cesarean delivery. During caesarean delivery under spinal anaesthesia a previously healthy woman became hypotensive, requiring ephedrine to maintain her blood pressure. Three hours after delivery the patient presented acute heart failure and pulmonary oedema. Due to low blood pressure she demanded the administration of inotropic agents. Owing to respiratory failure and gradual deterioration of consciousness, mechanical ventilation was applied. Results of additional tests finally excluded pulmonary thromboembolism and acute coronary syndrome. The transthoracic echocardiography revealed severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction, ejection fraction 30 % with hypokinesis of the mid and basal segments of posterior, anterior and lateral wall with preserved contractility of the apical segments. The diagnosis of inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy was set upon the overall clinical data. Both echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging performed on the fifth day showed complete recovery of myocardial function. The patient was discharged after 15 days in good overall condition. At 12- month follow- up she remained asymptomatic with no echocardiographic abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: Inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy may occur in postpartum period, especially in combination with spinal anesthesia and adrenergic stimulants administration. The clinical awareness and multimodality imaging of possible diagnosis and further management of this unexpected variant of acute heart failure after caesarean delivery is required.
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Ledakowicz-Polak et al. (2016) conducted a case report in Inverted stress-induced cardiomyopathy (n=1). Cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia with ephedrine administration was evaluated on Development of inverted stress-induced cardiomyopathy and subsequent recovery. A 36-year-old woman developed inverted stress-induced cardiomyopathy presenting as acute heart failure after a cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia with ephedrine, with complete recovery by day 5.
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