ABSTRACT
Twenty-four patients first seen with hypertensive crises during pregnancy were studied by continuous electrocardiographic monitoring for a period of 24 hours to detect the presence of serious ventricular arrhythmias. Three patients were excluded from analysis because of low serum potassium levels. Thirteen of the remaining 21 patients had ventricular tachycardia on subsequent analysis of the electrocardiogram. These arrhythmias subsided after induction of anesthesia when blood pressure control was optimal. This finding may be implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary edema and sudden death in these patients.
Subject(s)
Electrocardiography, Ambulatory , Hypertension/diagnosis , Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular/diagnosis , Adult , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/diagnosis , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/etiology , Death, Sudden/etiology , Eclampsia/complications , Eclampsia/diagnosis , Electrocardiography, Ambulatory/instrumentation , Female , Heart Ventricles , Humans , Hypertension/complications , Pregnancy , Pulmonary Edema/etiologyABSTRACT
Amniotic fluid from 19 patients with preeclampsia was compared with samples from normotensive control subjects with respect to the levels of prostaglandin 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha, thromboxane B2, and the ratio of 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha to thromboxane B2. The study found no significant differences in the levels of these prostanoids or the ratio of 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha to thromboxane B2 (study patients, 2.7 +/- 2.1; control patients, 2.8 +/- 1.9) between groups.
