Favourable outcome after peripartum cardiomyopathy: a ten-year study on peripartum cardiomyopathy in a university hospital

Abstract

MeThODs A retrospective case record analysis was conducted on all patients admitted and diagnosed with PPCM at the University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2009. All deliveries were undertaken in the same hospital.ResUlTs A total of 12 patients were diagnosed with PPCM during the ten-year study period. The prevalence of PPCM was 2.48 in 100,000 (1 in 40,322) live births. Nine women were diagnosed with PPCM within five months of delivery. Three women had twin pregnancies. There was one death in the group (mortality rate 8.3%). The mean left ventricular ejection fraction at the time of diagnosis was 28.9% ± 8.5% (range 15%-40%). Following the index event, left ventricular function normalised in six of the nine patients (66.7%) who underwent subsequent echocardiography one year later. All patients were treated with standard heart failure therapy. Two patients with normalised left ventricular function had subsequent pregnancies -one pregnancy was terminated at seven weeks and the other patient delivered uneventfully at full term.CONClUsION PPCM is uncommon. The outcome in our series was favourable, with 66.7% of patients with PPCM recovering their left ventricular function. The mortality rate was 8.3%.

A global perspective on the management and outcomes of peripartum cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Forty‐seven studies, comprising 4875 patients across 60 countries, were considered eligible and were included in the systematic review ( Table 1 ). 1,15–65 A list of excluded studies, with reasons for exclusion, is provided in online supplementary Table .…”

Molecular mechanisms of peripartum cardiomyopathy: A vascular/hormonal hypothesis

“…In the US, the contemporary mortality rate for women with PPCM ranges from 5% to 15% [24] and is higher in women of African descent [9,11,25], though one cohort reported no mortality in a group of 55 women followed up for over 3 years [26]. Globally, mortality rates range widely from 8% in Singapore [27] to ~20% of women who were followed up in a South African cohort [21] and up to 25% of women with PPCM in Haiti dying within 5 years [8]. Based on OPTN data as of November 28, 2014, 4% of transplants performed in the USA in women are for PPCM.…”