What are the main cardiac disorders in pregnancy?

Cardiac conditions during pregnancy include hypertensive disorders, hypercholesterolemia, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathies, arrhythmias, valvular disease, thromboembolic disease, aortic disease, and cerebrovascular diseases.

Which cardiac changes are normal during pregnancy?

A variety of changes in the cardiovascular system occur during normal pregnancy, including increases in cardiac output, arterial compliance, and extracellular fluid volume and decreases in blood pressure (BP) and total peripheral resistance.

What is cardiac decompensation in pregnancy?

Many of the normal symptoms of pregnancy, such as dyspnea on exertion, orthopnea, ankle edema, and palpitations, are also symptoms of cardiac decompensation. However, angina, resting dyspnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, or a sustained arrhythmia are not expected with pregnancy and warrant a further diagnostic workup.

What happens to cardiac output during pregnancy?

Cardiac output increases during pregnancy to 30 to 50% above the prepregnant levels. The increase in cardiac output occurs due to increase in stroke volume initially during gestation and later by increase in heart rate.

Which type of delivery is safest in cardiac disease?

Mode of delivery Several studies show that caesarean section is performed more often in women with heart disease than in a healthy population [12, 13].

When is cardiac output highest in pregnancy?

The maximum cardiac output associated with pregnancy occurs during labor and immediately after delivery, with increases of 60% to 80% above levels seen before the onset of labor.

Which cardiovascular change is physiological in last trimester of pregnancy?

Cardiovascular alterations during pregnancy are characterized by an increased vascular volume, cardiac output, and heart rate, with a marked fall in vascular resistance. Cardiac output is about 40-50% higher during the third trimester.

Can diuretics be used during pregnancy?

Diuretics are commonly prescribed in essential hypertension before conception and are used during pregnancy for treating hypertension and cardiac disease.

Does cardiac output decrease in pregnancy?

Peripheral vasodilation leads to a 25–30% fall in systemic vascular resistance, and to compensate for this, cardiac output increases by around 40% during pregnancy. This is achieved predominantly via an increase in stroke volume, but also to a lesser extent, an increase in heart rate.

What is cardiac disease and how it makes the pregnant woman in high risk?

Coronary artery disease: The etiology of ischemic heart disease in pregnant women is similar to that of non-pregnant women. Risk factors that expose these individuals to ischemic heart disease include hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking, and immobility.

What is cardiac disease in pregnancy?

Cardiac Disease in Pregnancy. Cardiac disease in the pregnant patient can present challenges in cardiovascular and maternal-fetal management. 1 It is important to understand that even in normal patients, pregnancy imposes some dramatic physiologic changes upon the cardiovascular system. These include an increase in plasma volume by 50%,…

How does pregnancy affect the cardiovascular system?

It is important to understand that even in normal patients, pregnancy imposes some dramatic physiologic changes upon the cardiovascular system. These include an increase in plasma volume by 50%, an increase in resting pulse by 17%, and an increase in cardiac output by 50%.

Can cardiac complications be managed during pregnancy?

Successful pregnancies can be achieved when cardiac complications are managed during pregnancy. In order to optimize maternal and neonatal outcomes, close collaboration between the maternal-fetal medicine specialist and the cardiologist is important. Footnotes

What is considered high cardiac risk pregnancy?

High Cardiac Risk Pregnancy States. Contraindications to pregnancy generally consist of 4 states: Marfan syndrome with dilated aortic root (>4 cm), pulmonary hypertension (pulmonary vascular resistance, >6 Wood units), moderate-to-severe left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (≥30 mmHg), and LVEF < 0.30 (Table II).