Outcome of Peripartum Anesthesia in Women with Valvular Disease

Maternal heart disease is one of the major causes for mortality among parturients. In our study, we surveyed 220 patients with different valvular disorders who gave birth in our medical center in the years 2012-2018. The aim of this study was to characterize various valvular pathologies and compare the results of different anesthetic approaches.

In this retrospective study, the computerized system and file archive were searched for maternal valvular pathologies according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The women included in the study were defined as American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA)-II or more, who suffer from valvular heart disease.

The most common pathology was mitral valve regurgitation (57.73% of all cardiac patients). Most women were defined as having mild insufficiency, and 82.68% had normal vaginal delivery. In 17.3% of patients who had cesarean section, the main type of anesthesia was neuraxial anesthesia (95.45%). The second most common pathology was tricuspid valve regurgitation (22.73%). Most patients (78%) had normal vaginal delivery, and epidural analgesia was used in 64.1%. A minority of cardiac patients in our study were patients with stenotic heart diseases, such as aortic stenosis, mitral stenosis and pulmonic stenosis (8.18%, 4.55%, and 1.36%, respectively). No complications were observed in the peripartum period.

The use of regional anesthesia is recommended for all valvular pathologies without exception, as we observed no cases in which the severity of cardiac condition had not allowed the use of various types of regional anesthesia, for surgery or vaginal delivery.