Key result
Fetal restrictive cardiomyopathy with large pericardial effusion progresses to require cardiac transplant by age 2.
Case Report (n=1)
This case report highlights a rare presentation of restrictive cardiomyopathy in fetal life beginning as an isolated pericardial effusion.
Pregnancy pericardial effusion may herald restrictive cardiomyopathy progression; hypothesis-generating case leaves open need for prospective monitoring studies.
We describe the evolution during pregnancy of a case of restrictive cardiomyopathy which first presented at 22 weeks' gestation with a large pericardial effusion. Measurements of cardiac function were normal and remained near normal until late in the third trimester, when pulsed and tissue Doppler data suggested impairment in ventricular relaxation. This disease progressed in postnatal life to symptomatic restrictive cardiomyopathy by 2 years of age necessitating cardiac transplant. To our knowledge, this is the first time this unusual association has been reported.
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Sekar et al. (2009) conducted a case report in Restrictive cardiomyopathy (n=1). A case of restrictive cardiomyopathy first presented at 22 weeks' gestation with a large pericardial effusion and progressed to symptomatic disease requiring cardiac transplant by 2 years of age.
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