Contraceptive Strategies in Women With Heart Failure or With Cardiac Transplantation

Reproductive health after thoracic transplantation: An ISHLT expert consensus statement

Pregnancy after thoracic organ transplantation is feasible for select individuals but requires multidisciplinary subspecialty care. Key components for a successful pregnancy after lung or heart transplantation include preconception and contraceptive planning, thorough risk stratification, optimization of maternal comorbidities and fetal health through careful monitoring, and open communication with shared decision-making. The goal of this consensus statement is to summarize the current evidence and provide guidance surrounding preconception counseling, patient risk assessment, medical management, maternal and fetal outcomes, obstetric management, and pharmacologic considerations.

Women's Cardiovascular Health: Selecting the Best Contraception

Basic knowledge about contraceptive types, efficacy, and indications is absolutely necessary for cardiologists caring for reproductive-age women for whom pregnancy could cause significant morbidity or mortality and for those on teratogenic medications. This summary provides a comprehensive overview of contraception options.

Etonogestrel contraceptive implant uptake and safety among solid organ transplant recipients

OBJECTIVES

To determine the safety of etonogestrel contraceptive implant use among reproductive-age women who are solid organ transplant recipients.

STUDY DESIGN

We conducted a retrospective cohort study with matching of reproductive-age women (14-45 years) who were solid organ transplant recipients and received care at a tertiary medical center in Denver, Colorado between 2011 and 2019. We identified cases who used an etonogestrel contraceptive implant post-transplant and then matched controls (no hormonal contraceptive use) in a 1:1 ratio according to age, transplant type, and institution. We compared pregnancy patterns, post-transplant infections, immunosuppressant therapy adjustments, and graft complications between cases and controls. We also evaluated implant-related side effect profiles and continuation rates among cases only.

RESULTS

We identified 24 cases and 24 matched controls. When compared to age and transplant organ-matched controls, contraceptive implant users were not at increased risk for adverse transplant-related outcomes. Graft rejection was the most common transplant-related complication in both groups (n = 11, 45.8% cases; n = 10, 41.7% controls). Additionally, outcomes concerning pregnancies, infections and immunosuppressant therapy changes showed no statistically significant difference between either group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first data that the etonogestrel contraceptive implant is likely a safe contraceptive option for reproductive-age women who are solid organ transplant recipients. Given the solid organ transplant recommendations to avoid pregnancy during the first 1 to 2 years post-transplant, healthcare providers should continue to counsel solid organ transplant recipients at risk of pregnancy on the etonogestrel contraceptive implant as an effective and safe method of pregnancy prevention.

IMPLICATIONS

Reproductive age women who are solid organ transplant recipients face additional health risks with unintended pregnancies. The etonogestrel contraceptive implant remains a safe and effective method of contraception for this specific population, with no increase in graft-related complications among contraceptive implant users.

Maternal Heart Failure

Heart failure (HF) remains the most common major cardiovascular complication arising in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Mothers who develop HF have been shown to experience an increased risk of death as well as a variety of adverse cardiac and obstetric outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated that the risk to neonates is significant, with increased risks in perinatal morbidity and mortality, low Apgar scores, and prolonged neonatal intensive care unit stays. Information on the causal factors of HF can be used to predict risk and understand timing of onset, mortality, and morbidity. A variety of modifiable, nonmodifiable, and obstetric risk factors as well as comorbidities are known to increase a patient's likelihood of developing HF, and there are additional elements that are known to portend a poorer prognosis beyond the HF diagnosis. Multidisciplinary cardio‐obstetric teams are becoming more prominent, and their existence will both benefit patients through direct care and increased awareness and educate clinicians and trainees on this patient population. Detection, access to care, insurance barriers to extended postpartum follow‐up, and timely patient counseling are all areas where care for these women can be improved. Further data on maternal and fetal outcomes are necessary, with the formation of State Maternal Perinatal Quality Collaboratives paving the way for such advances.

Contraceptive Challenges in Women With Common Medical Conditions

Women have the opportunity to meet personal contraceptive goals with convenient, highly reliable, and easily reversible methods. Long-acting reversible contraception represents an increasingly popular option for most women throughout the reproductive lifespan. Nonetheless, many women and their health care providers are challenged by coexisting medical issues. We aim to help clinicians individualize contraception and use shared decision-making to enhance patient satisfaction and continuation with their method.

Practice Patterns Surrounding Pregnancy After Heart Transplantation

Background:

Pregnancy after heart transplantation (HT) is a concern for many female recipients. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation has guidelines regarding reproductive health, but limited data exist regarding providers’ attitudes and practices surrounding pregnancy post-HT.

Methods:

We conducted an independent, confidential, voluntary, web-based survey sent electronically to 1643 United States heart transplant providers between June and August 2019.

Results:

There were 122 responses, the majority from cardiologists (n=85, 70%) and nurse or transplant coordinators (n=22, 18%). Thirty-one percent (n=37) of respondents indicated that pregnancy should be avoided in all HT recipients, and only 43% (n=52) reported that their center had a formal policy regarding pregnancy following HT. The most commonly reported contraindications included nonadherence (n=109, 89%), reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (n=104, 85%), coronary allograft vasculopathy (n=86, 70%), prior rejection (n=76, 62%), presence of donor-specific antibodies (n=69, 57%), and prior peripartum cardiomyopathy pretransplant (n=57, 47%). Respondent sex, specialty, transplant volume, or prior experience with pregnancy after HT were not associated with recommendations to avoid posttransplant pregnancy.

Conclusions:

Transplant providers’ attitudes regarding posttransplant pregnancy vary widely. Despite International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation guidelines, a significant proportion indicates that pregnancy is contraindicated in all recipients and the majority of programs have no center-specific policy to manage such pregnancies. While the low response rate limits the generalizability of the findings, they do suggest that education on the feasibility of pregnancy post-HT is indicated as many recipients are of, or survive to, childbearing age.

Management of reproductive health after cardiac transplantation

Pregnancy after cardiac transplantation poses immense challenges. Maternal risks include hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, rejection, and failure of the cardiac allograft that may lead to death. Fetal risks include potential teratogenic effects of immunosuppression and prematurity. Because of the high-risk nature of pregnancy in a heart transplant patient, management of reproductive health after cardiac transplantation should include preconception counseling to all women in the reproductive age group before and after cardiac transplantation. Reliable contraception is vital as nearly half of the pregnancies in this population are unintended. Despite the associated risks, successful pregnancies after cardiac transplantation have been reported. A multidisciplinary approach proposed in this review is essential for successful outcomes. A checklist for providers to guide management is provided.

[Intrauterine contraception: CNGOF Contraception Guidelines]

OBJECTIVE

To provide national clinical guidelines focusing on intrauterine contraception.

METHODS

A systematic review of available literature was performed using Pubmed and Cochrane libraries. American, British and Canadian guidelines were considered as well.

RESULTS

Intrauterine contraception (IUC) displays a wide panel of indications, including adolescents, nulliparous, patients living with HIV before AIDS (Grade B) and women with history of ectopic pregnancy (Grade C). Cervical cancer screening should not be modified in women with IUC (Grade B). Bimanual examination and cervix inspection are mandatory before device insertion (Grade B). Patients should not systematically undergo screening for sexually transmitted infections (STI) before device insertion (Grade B). Screening for STI should be preferably done before insertion but it can be performed at the time of device insertion in asymptomatic women (Grade B). Routine antibiotic prophylaxis and premedication are not recommended before insertion (Grade A). A follow-up visit may be offered several weeks after insertion (Professional consensus). Routine pelvic ultrasound examination in not recommended after device insertion (Grade B). In patients with IUC, unscheduled bleeding, when persistent or associated with pelvic pain, requires further investigation to rule out complication (Professional agreement). Suspected uterine perforation warrants radiological workup to locate the device (Professional consensus). Laparoscopic approach should be preferred for elective removal of intrauterine device from abdominal cavity (Professional consensus). In case of accidental pregnancy with intrauterine device in situ, ectopic pregnancy should be excluded (Grade B). In case of viable and desired intrauterine pregnancy, intrauterine device removal is recommended if the strings are reachable (Grade C). Detection of Actinomyces-like organisms on pap smear in asymptomatic patients with intrauterine contraception does not require further intervention (Grade B). Immediate removal of intrauterine device is not recommended in case of STI or pelvic inflammatory disease (Grade B). Device removal should be considered in the absence of clinical improvement after 48 to 72 hours of appropriate treatment (Grade B).

CONCLUSION

Intrauterine contraception is a long-acting and reversible contraception method displaying great efficacy and high continuation rate. In contrast, complication rate is low. It should thus be offered to both nulliparous and multiparous women.