Know the Risks of Pregnancy and Heart Disease

The heart of the matter when you’re expecting.

For women who are pregnant or planning to start a family, the presence of acquired or congenital heart disease can affect their health and potentially the health of their unborn baby. Careful examination and monitoring of risk factors by a multidisciplinary care team leads to the best outcomes for mother and child, say cardiovascular experts at Mayo Clinic’s Cardiovascular Obstetrics Clinic.

Heart Conditions Diagnosed and Treated in the Cardiovascular Obstetrics Clinic

• Aortic valve disease
• Conditions that require the use of blood thinners (anticoagulants), such as warfarin
• Congenital heart disease in adults
• Connective tissue disorders, including Marfan syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Coronary artery disease, including spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD)
• Heart arrhythmia
• Heart failure, including peripartum cardiomyopathy
• Heart valve disease
• High blood pressure (hypertension), including preeclampsia
• Pulmonary hypertension

Pregnancy increases stress on the heart.

For women with heart disease pregnancy can present health challenges. Extra stress is placed on a woman’s heart and circulatory system during pregnancy as blood volume increases by 30 to 50 percent. The heart pumps more blood each minute and the heart rate increases. Labor and delivery also add to the heart’s workload. After delivery, it takes several weeks for the stresses on the heart to ease and heart function to normalize.

Women who have a history of heart disease and are pregnant or planning a pregnancy should seek the help of a physician who specializes in caring for cardiac disease in pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy counseling and genetic counseling are also recommended.

Comprehensive care, singular focus.

Among the experts at Mayo Clinic are cardiologists with expertise in managing high-risk pregnancies in women with heart disease as part of a pregnancy heart team. This multidisciplinary team also includes maternal fetal medicine specialists (obstetricians trained to evaluate and care for high-risk pregnancies) and obstetric anesthesiologists. In addition, the care team includes social work, nurse practitioners, and nurses all with experience caring for pregnant women with heart disease. Additional expert involvement depends on the patient and the condition. Together, these experts develop an individualized treatment plan and provide coordinated, comprehensive care with direct access to the latest research and innovative techniques available at the No. 1 hospital in the nation.

Delivering more than hope.

With help from a multidisciplinary care team at Mayo Clinic, the health risks faced by women with heart disease entering motherhood can be successfully identified, monitored, and treated. If you are looking for a resource, reach out to request an appointment with a cardiologist who specializes in the care of women with heart disease in pregnancy.