Peripartum cardiomyopathy: pregnancy-related heart failure
What is peripartum cardiomyopathy?
Peripartum cardiomyopathy is heart failure that occurs before or after childbirth and can be fatal if not detected and treated promptly.
Shortness of breath, fatigue, cough... The symptoms of peripartum cardiomyopathy are often attributed to the arrival of the child. Diagnosis is sometimes too late. However, this disease can be treated.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a form of heart failure that occurs in the last month of pregnancy or up to five months after delivery. The left ventricle of the heart becomes dilated and can no longer pump blood properly throughout the body.
How to treat peripartum cardiomyopathy?
Treatments for peripartum cardiomyopathy are heavy and require regular monitoring by a cardiologist. During consultations, the doctor checks in particular that there are no new signs of heart failure.
Most patients, at least 50%, completely recover the left ventricular ejection fraction, that is to say the function of the cardiac pump which allows the heart to work and ensures a correct cardiac output. Some will recover partially and others will not recover .
A risk of death
Some women even die from the disease, especially if they are treated late. Because very often, patients have had a normal pregnancy and delivery. The origin of peripartum cardiomyopathy is not clearly identified: The main hypothesis was the prolactin pathway. Prolactin is a hormone synthesized by the pituitary gland and which intervenes in the stimulation of lactation, that is to say breastfeeding . A priori, this hormone will be cut by a protein and will cause destruction of the cells of the myocardium.
A new pregnancy is not possible for all patients, especially those who have not recovered their cardiac capacity. A recurrence of the disease could indeed be fatal for them.
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