[Heart disease in pregnancy]

During pregnancy, the changes of cardiovascular physiology can impose additional load and risk on the cardiovascular system of women with heart disease. Care of women with heart disease and childbearing potential should include preconception risk stratification and counselling. Risk stratification rests on a carefully obtained history and examination, electrocardiography and echocardiography. Exercise capacity is an important predictor of maternal cardiovascular events. High-risk conditions include severe pulmonary hypertension, cyanotic lesions, severe left ventricular obstruction and aortic disease in Marfan-Syndrome. High-risk patients should be referred to and cared for by tertiary centres. A multidisciplinary team approach with cardiologists, obstetricians and anaesthetists during pregnancy, delivery and the postpartum period is recommended. Meticulous attention should be paid to effective anticoagulation for prosthetic heart valves. Risks and benefits of the anticoagulation strategy should be fully discussed with the patient. Peripartal cardiomyopathy is a disease that occurs during he late stages of pregnancy and the peripartum period and is associated with congestive heart failure, thrombembolism, cardiac death and recurrence in subsequent pregnancies. Dilated cardiomyopathy with impaired functional reserve or markedly impaired left ventricular function constitutes a high risk for the pregnant women. In addition to sodium restriction, treatment of heart failure consists of loop diuretics, vasodilators, digoxin and beta-blockers, if appropriate. Coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction are rare during pregnancy but should be considered in women with chest pain. Pharmacological therapy of rhythm disorders should be reserved for arrhythmias resulting in maternal or fetal hemodynamic compromise and for arrhythmias with intolerable symptoms.