Cardiovascular disease
Women with cardiac disease now able to become pregnant because of medical improvements
Involves some type of impaired cardiac function
Determining the degree of risk—whether a woman with cardiac disease can complete a pregnancy successfully—is based on the type and extent of her disease
Criteria developed by the New York State Heart Association commonly used to predict the outcome of a pregnancy classifying the woman into one of four categories based on the degree of compromise (see Cardiac disease and pregnancy)
Alert
A patient with a cardiac disorder is at greatest risk when hemodynamic changes reach their maximum, between 28 and 32 weeks’ gestation.
Causes
Congenital heart disease, such as atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary stenosis, or coarctation of the aorta
Rheumatic heart disease, such as endocarditis with scar tissue formation on the mitral, aortic, or tricuspid valves with resulting stenosis or insufficiency