Post-Partum Heart Disease

as a well-defined condition, exhibiting a uniform clinical picture, due to several possible etiological factors, many of which are often difficult to recognize. Notwithstanding these studies, the problem of heart failure occurring in the puerperal period in the absence of pre-existent cardiac disease is still far from being clear. The initial signs of decompensation usually appear during the last weeks of pregnancy and are often so slight as to be misinterpreted; they decrease immediately after delivery, often to reappear subsequently in a much more severe degree.