Emergency aortic valve replacement in the 24th-week of pregnancy

The incidence of heart disease during pregnancy has declined from 3.6% to approximately 1.5% over the last 25 years as a result of better medical and surgical care. Rheumatic heart disease still accounts for 75% of cases and the incidence of bacterial endocarditis during pregnancy is about 1 in 8000. Seaworth and Durack reviewed 124 cases found in the literature of a 40 year period. The experience of any anesthetist with such cases will thus be limited. In this case report a patient is described who required emergency aortic valve replacement in the 24th week of pregnancy. The effect of the non-pulsatile flow during the extracorporeal circulation on the foetal unit will be discussed. Recommendations for the perioperative management include a normothermic high flow, high pressure perfusion technique, monitoring of foetal heart rate and uterine activity and vigorous tocolysis using beta sympathomimetics and progesterone.