Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: Current Management and Outcome

Peripartum Cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a clinical condition of heart failure that occurs in the last trimester of pregnancy or after childbirth in the early postpartum period. The aetiology of this condition is still uncertain, but it is connected with high mortality and morbidity. PPCM can be difficult to find because the symptoms of heart failure can resemble those of late pregnancy, such as swelling of the feet and legs, orthopnea and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. PPCM is diagnosed with Hibbard diagnostic criteria which are heart failure in the last month of pregnancy and 5 months after birth, lack of previous heart disease, there is no definitive cause and strict echocardiography of left ventricular dysfunction: Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) <45% and/or M-model fraction <30% and Left Ventricular End Diastolic dimension (LVEDd) greater than 2.7 cm/m2. A multidisciplinary strategy involving cardiologist, obstetrician, intensivist and paediatrician is vital for the management of PPCM patients.