Heart disease is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in women in pregnancy. There is a risk of cardiomyopathies in pregnant women, and this is further increased in diabetic women.
This talk will discuss some of the common causes of maternal death in Australia. It will include a brief discussion of the circulatory changes in pregnancy and birthing, and which cardiac conditions are considered high risk in pregnancy. The use of medications to treat heart failure in pregnancy will be reviewed. Three different types of cardiomyopathy in pregnancy will be discussed including Peri-partum, Dilated and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and will be illustrated by clinical cases.