The Effect of Pregnancy on Long Term Echocardiographic Parameters of Women with Congenital Heart Disease - The 66th Annual Conference of the Israel Heart Society & The Israel Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Tamar Hayuni-Kosovsky ² Offer Erez ³ Efrat Mazor Dray ¹

¹Department of Cardiology, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
²Goldman Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Soroka University Medical Center
³Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Objective: This study is designed to address the unanswered question regarding the changes in maternal cardiac function after pregnancy in women with congenital heart disease (CHD) during the first year after delivery.

Methods: This retrospective population-based cohort study included all women with a confirmed diagnosis of CHD, who delivered at Soroka University Medical Center between 1995 to 2015, and had had at least two echocardiographic studies (one before and one after delivery), to compare the maternal cardiac function before and after pregnancy and delivery. Data were attained from the computerized database.

Results: 641 deliveries in women with heart defects occurred at the Soroka University Medical Center, of them 44 women who had 101 deliveries were eligible for inclusion. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decreased significantly after delivery from 58.33%±3.97 to 57.46%±4.81 (p=0.001). 10 women remained postpartum with a significantly lower LVEF (greater than 5%). No significant decline in the NYHA functional class before and after delivery was found.

Conclusion: There is no increased risk in the long term maternal cardiac risk when followed and treated in a CHD tertiary center. Effort should be directed into differentiating which CHD conditions pose a higher risk for maternal complications and which are safer during pregnancies.