May 2018 · Volume 7 · Issue 5 Page 1949
International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Rathore S et al. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2018 May;7(5):1949-1952
www.ijrcog.org
pISSN 2320-1770 | eISSN 2320-1789
Original Research Article
A five year retrospective study on maternal and perinatal outcome in
pregnancy after cardiac surgery
Swati Rathore
1
, Ravi Shankar
2
*, Annie P. Vijjeswarapu
1
, Anuja Abraham
1
, Bijesh Yadav
3
INTRODUCTION
Pregnancy is a hypercoaguablestate with physiological
haemodynamic changes occurring during pregnancy.
1,2
There is a progressive increase in intravascular volume in
second trimester of pregnancy and increase in cardiac
output.
3
Pregnancy makes a significant impact on cardiovascular
system. It is important to evaluate and study the effect of
pregnancy on women with surgically corrected heart
conditions so as to preempt potential complications.
Pregnancies complicated with maternal cardiac diseases
have an incidence of 1-4%. Most of these can be
managed with lifestyle changes and medical
management. Pregnancy following cardiac surgery puts
both mother and fetus at risk. Maternal mortality rate can
be as high as 10-30%.
4
Pregnancy among women with
mechanical prosthetic valve is associated with arisk of
maternal death of between 1 and 4%.
5
Thus patients with
artificial heart valves need an enhanced level of care
during pregnancy and labour.
6
Mortality is mainly due to
thrombotic complications. Neither surgical nor medical
treatment is ideal for pregnant women with acute
prosthetic heart valve dysfunction. Hence appropriate
time and the mode of delivery prior to the therapy when
ABSTRACT
Background: Pregnancy is a hypercoaguable state with physiological haemodynamic changes occurring during
pregnancy. There is a progressive increase in intravascular volume in second trimester of pregnancy and increase in
cardiac output. Pregnancy makes a significant impact on cardiovascular system. It is important to evaluate and study
the effect of pregnancy on women with surgically corrected heart conditions so as to preempt potential complications.
Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with prior history of cardiac surgery and their pregnancy outcomes
in a tertiary center of Southern India over a period of five years from January 2011 to December 2016.
Results: In this study, descriptive statistical analysis was done in 87 women with pregnancy following cardiac
surgery. 58.6% were nulliparous. Around 52% had associated obstetric risk factors. The most common cardiac
surgery in this population was Mitral valve replacement (40.2%) and Atrial septal defect closure (37.9%). Women
belonged to NYHA class I in 90.8% of cases. 58.6% had vaginal delivery and 36.8% had caesarean section. 6 women
had postpartum haemorrhage which was medically managed, and 6 women needed ICU care.74.7% women had term
deliveries. 18.4 % of the babies were less than 2.5 kg weight at birth. 13 babies required Neonatal ICU care.
Conclusions: Maternal and neonatal outcome mainly depends on the functional cardiac status of women before
conception. In this study we emphasize on the importance of multidisciplinary team approach involving cardiologist,
obstetrician and neonatologist in the management of women with prior cardiac surgery.
Keywords: Cardiac surgery, Functional cardiac status, Pregnancy outcome
1
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
2
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery,
3
Department of Biostatistics,
Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
Received: 01 March 2018
Accepted: 28 March 2018
*Correspondence:
Dr. Ravi Shankar,
E-mail: ravixshanker@gmail.com,
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20181935