[Successful pregnancy after heart transplantation]

A 32-year-old woman underwent heart transplantation after having suffered two myocardial infarctions, the first when parturition was pharmacologically induced, the second during diagnostic catheterization. Three years after the heart transplantation she became pregnant three times. In the first two pregnancies therapeutic abortion was performed because of trisomy-21. The third pregnancy was uneventful until week 36. At that time labour was induced because of signs of pre-ecclampsia. A healthy boy was born with normal physical and psychological development after four years. In pregnancy after heart transplantation teratogenic effects of the medication have not been described. The main problems are hypertension and pre-eclampsia in the mother and prematurity and low birth weight in the newborn. A major problem is the limited life expectancy after heart transplantation due to which a patient will only rarely see his or her child grow up into adulthood.