Effectiveness of Implanted Cardiac Rhythm Recorders With Electrocardiographic Monitoring for Detecting Arrhythmias in Pregnant Women With Symptomatic Arrhythmia and/or Structural Heart Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

2023 HRS expert consensus statement on the management of arrhythmias during pregnancy

This international multidisciplinary expert consensus statement is intended to provide comprehensive guidance that can be referenced at the point of care to cardiac electrophysiologists, cardiologists, and other health care professionals, on the management of cardiac arrhythmias in pregnant patients and in fetuses. This document covers general concepts related to arrhythmias, including both brady- and tachyarrhythmias, in both the patient and the fetus during pregnancy. Recommendations are provided for optimal approaches to diagnosis and evaluation of arrhythmias; selection of invasive and noninvasive options for treatment of arrhythmias; and disease- and patient-specific considerations when risk stratifying, diagnosing, and treating arrhythmias in pregnant patients and fetuses. Gaps in knowledge and new directions for future research are also identified.

Pregnancy in women with congenital heart disease: a focus on management and preventing the risk of complications

INTRODUCTION

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common cardiac disorder in pregnancy in the western world (around 80%). Due to improvements in surgical interventions more women with CHD are surviving to adulthood and choosing to become pregnant.

AREAS COVERED

Preconception counseling, antenatal management of CHDs and strategies to prevent maternal and fetal complications.Preconception counseling should start early, before the transition to adult care and be offered to both men and women. It should include the choice of contraception, lifestyle modifications, pre-pregnancy optimization of cardiac state, the chance of the child inheriting a similar cardiac lesion, the risks to the mother, and long-term prognosis. Pregnancy induces marked physiological changes in the cardiovascular system that may precipitate cardiac complications. Risk stratification is based on the underlying cardiac disease and data from studies including CARPREG, ZAHARA, and ROPAC.

EXPERT OPINION

Women with left to right shunts, regurgitant lesions, and most corrected CHDs are at lower risk and can be managed in secondary care. Complex CHD, including systemic right ventricle need expert counseling in a tertiary center. Those with severe stenotic lesions, pulmonary artery hypertension, and Eisenmenger's syndrome should avoid pregnancy, be given effective contraception and managed in a tertiary center if pregnancy does happen.

Managing Rheumatic Heart Disease in Pregnancy: A Practical Evidence-Based Multidisciplinary Approach

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in pregnant patients in low- to middle-income countries. Apart from the clinical challenges, these areas face poor infrastructure and resources to allow for early detection, with many women presenting to medical services for the first time when they deteriorate clinically during the pregnancy. The opportunity for preconception counselling and planning may thus be lost. It is ideal for all women to be seen before conception and risk-stratified according to their clinical state and pathology. The role of the cardio-obstetrics team has emerged over the past decade with the aim of a seamless transition to and from the appropriate levels of care during pregnancy. Severe symptomatic mitral and aortic valve stenoses portend the greatest risk to both mother and fetus. In mitral stenosis, beta-blockers are the cornerstone of therapy and only a small number of patients require balloon valvuloplasty. Regurgitant lesions mostly require diuretics alone for the treatment of heart failure. The mode of delivery is usually vaginal; caesarean section is performed in those with obstetrical indications or in cases with severe stenosis and a poor clinical state. The postpartum period presents a second high-risk period for maternal adverse events, with heart failure and arrhythmias being the most frequent. This review aims to provide a practical evidence-based multi-disciplinary approach to the management of women with RHD in pregnancy.

Arrhythmias and Pregnancy: Management of Preexisting and New-Onset Maternal Arrhythmias

Arrhythmias are the most common cardiovascular complication of pregnancy in women with and without structural heart disease. Appropriate maternal diagnosis and management is of utmost importance to optimize maternal and fetal outcomes. A multidisciplinary care approach with cardiology, maternal fetal medicine, anesthesia, and pediatrics is important for preconceptional, pregnancy, and delivery planning.

[Cardiac arrhythmias in pregnancy : Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment options]

Symptomatic arrhythmias rarely occur during pregnancy and are predominantly benign. However, the increasing average age of women who are pregnant, especially in Western European countries, has contributed to a significant increase in arrhythmias in pregnant women in recent years. Previous or existing heart diseases can increase the occurrence of arrhythmias. In most cases pregnancy is safe and without consequences for the child and/or mother. Further cardiological work-up (including ECG and echocardiography, and possibly cardiac MRI) should always be performed. The indication for treatment should be made in close cooperation between obstetricians and cardiologists considering symptoms, hemodynamics and prognosis. In the absence of larger studies on efficacy and side effects of antiarrhythmic drugs, these should be administered very cautiously, under strict indication and whenever possible by avoiding the first trimester. Cardiologists with special expertise in arrhythmias should always be consulted, especially in the case of complex and relevant rhythm disturbances.

Risk stratification and management of women with cardiomyopathy/heart failure planning pregnancy or presenting during/after pregnancy: a position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

This position paper focusses on the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of women diagnosed with a cardiomyopathy, or at risk of heart failure (HF), who are planning to conceive or present with (de novo or previously unknown) HF during or after pregnancy. This includes the heterogeneous group of heart muscle diseases such as hypertrophic, dilated, arrhythmogenic right ventricular and non-classified cardiomyopathies, left ventricular non-compaction, peripartum cardiomyopathy, Takotsubo syndrome, adult congenital heart disease with HF, and patients with right HF. Also, patients with a history of chemo-/radiotherapy for cancer or haematological malignancies need specific pre-, during and post-pregnancy assessment and counselling. We summarize the current knowledge about pathophysiological mechanisms, including gene mutations, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and medical and device management, as well as risk stratification. Women with a known diagnosis of a cardiomyopathy will often require continuation of drug therapy, which has the potential to exert negative effects on the foetus. This position paper assists in balancing benefits and detrimental effects.

Rhythmusstörungen in der Schwangerschaft

Symptomatische Rhythmusstörungen treten während einer Schwangerschaft selten auf und sind überwiegend gutartig. Sie stellen dennoch eine besondere klinische Herausforderung dar, wobei sich diagnostische und therapeutische Möglichkeiten in Zusammenhang mit gleichzeitig älterem Durchschnittsalter bei Schwangerschaften in den vergangenen Jahren deutlich verbessert haben. In der Regel ist eine Schwangerschaft trotz Auftreten von Rhythmusstörungen sicher und ohne Folgen für das Kind. Vorbekannte oder vorhandene Herzerkrankungen können das Auftreten von Rhythmusstörungen begünstigen. Es sollte immer eine weiterführende kardiologische Diagnostik (u. a. EKG und Echokardiografie) erfolgen. Die Indikation zur Therapie sollte in enger Absprache zwischen Geburtsmediziner und Kardiologen/Rhythmologen erfolgen und dabei Symptomatik, Hämodynamik und Prognose berücksichtigen. Bei fehlenden größeren Studien zu Wirksamkeit und Nebenwirkungen von Antiarrhythmika sollten diese nur sehr zurückhaltend, unter strenger Indikation und am ehesten unter Umgehung des 1. Trimenons verabreicht werden. Insbesondere bei komplexen und prognostisch relevanten Rhythmusstörungen sollten immer Kardiologen mit besonderer rhythmologischer Erfahrung hinzugezogen werden.

The anesthetist as cardiologist: a case of heart block identified in the peripartum period

We describe a case of undiagnosed heart block which was detected during the postpartum surgical repair of a vaginal tear, and the subsequent investigations that confirmed diagnosis of atrio-ventricular heart block.