Abstract

Background: Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a life-threatening condition, refers to rare dilated cardiomyopathy causing heart failure in late pregnancy or early postpartum woman. The diagnosis was based on pregnant/peripartum woman who had sudden cardiac decompensation without any history of cardiac disease. Pre-eclampsia (PE) could be co-existed with PPCM because of similar pathophysiology mechanism, which leads to higher mortality. Hereby we present the challenges of managing PPCM complicated with severe PE in suburban areas. Case Illustration: A 36-year-old woman referred to hospital with shortness of breath. Her past medical history was remarkable for severe-PE and had undergone caesarean section two-day-ago. Upon arrival, her saturation-75%, HR-120x/min, BP-140/80 and RR exceeds-40x/min. She was in respiratory distress with JVP increased, coarse crackles at basal lungs, and leg swelling. Laboratory studies were unremarkable. The x-ray revealed cardiomegaly and ECG showing LVH. Initial echocardiography demonstrated left ventricular systolic dysfunction with ejection fraction-34%. The patient was suggestive for PPCM with previous history of PE. Continuous administration of IV-furosemide-5 mg/h, spironolactone-25 mg, bisoprolol-2.5 mg, and candesartan-8 mg were administered. Her condition improved rapidly with increased saturation from 75% to 95% and significant reduced in dyspnoea. She was transferred to intensive cardiovascular unit for further management and discharged after 7-days for outpatient control. Discussion: PPCM is a devastated diagnosis among pregnancy woman. The diagnosis should be distinguish from PE induced heart failure. In PPCM, the echocardiography findings is related with left ventricular systolic dysfunction and reduced EF, whereas diastolic dysfunction with preserved EF is identified in PE induced heart failure patient. PE is associated with PPCM based on the shared pathophysiology. It is related with the angiogenic imbalance and excess expression of antiangiogenic factor sFlt1 soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1, which have found increased in both of the diseases. This is explained why PE has been recorded to occur in 30% of PPCM cases and it contributes to the increasing maternal mortality when most of the causes of maternal death are preventable.

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