Case Report: Heart failure in the puerperium

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiomyopathies that occur de novo in relation to pregnancy or childbirth have diverse etiologies, although they are uncommon, they contribute substantially to maternal morbidity and mortality. In addition, during gestation there are hemodynamic changes that could make hidden heart disease manifest and produce ventricular remodeling with the consequent appearance of persistent or transient structural heart disease. Currently, there is little data on the prevalence of heart disease that occurs during or after pregnancy; for this reason it is of utmost importance to know the cardiovascular diseases related to this period. CASE REPORT: A 26-year-old female patient, who during her late puerperium, after her first pregnancy, terminated by cesarean section due to preeclampsia with severity criteria, presented signs and symptoms of heart failure. After evaluation, ischemic causes were ruled out, maintaining a high diagnostic suspicion of peripartum cardiomyopathy, based on the absence of a history of heart disease prior to pregnancy, the presence of preeclampsia during gestation and the clinical presentation associated with the puerperium; however, after searching for the etiology by cardiac imaging studies, suggestive data of left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy was reported. EVOLUTION: After definitive diagnosis was made, optimal medical therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction was established. The patient presented a favorable evolution, with symptomatic improvement and decrease of clinical and radiological signs of pulmonary congestion and was discharged with the same pharmacotherapy and indications for outpatient monitoring. CONCLUSION: In this case we are dealing with a patient with no cardiac pathology prior to pregnancy, who debuted with symptoms of heart failure in the late puerperium. Although imaging studies confirmed the diagnosis of left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy, the case should be closely followed up due to the probability of reversible ventricular trabeculations associated with pregnancy and not a noncompacted left ventricular cardiomyopathy per se. Given the difficulty for diagnosis and identification of the etiology, the pathology should be studied exhaustively, especially in patients with a high probability of presenting trabeculations as part of adaptive remodeling.