Safety of percutaneous correction of congenital heart disease in women in their early postpartum days

Abstract

Introduction: congenital heart diseases in pregnancy are a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, with all the social and economic consequences that this implicates. So far corrections of heart diseases detected during pregnancy are performed in the subsequent six months after delivery, taking into account the reversal of the physiological changes proper to pregnancy, and its lack of treatment increases morbidity and mortality. In our environment deferred corrections are not performed because of the difficulties in the health system and the sociocultural conditions of patients, which imply loss of monitoring that impedes the timely correction of the defects and causing development of Eisenmenger syndrome.

Objective: evaluate safety of percutaneous correction of congenital heart disease in women in theirearly postpartum days and the outcomes at short and long term.

Methods: descriptive study. Case series.

Results: eight cases of percutaneous closure with successful outcome are reported in four patientswith atrial septal defect and four with patent ductus arteriosus in the first days after delivery (averageof 8.7 days) with good clinical results for the newborn (average one minute APGAR score 6.8 and 8.7at five minutes), and for the mother, with early hospital discharge (87.5% in the first 24 hours after theprocedure), with 62.5% of asymptomatic mothers at nine months after having been intervened; the rest ofthem (37.5%) did not return to the controls. No complications from surgery or medication administeredat discharge or follow-up were found.

Conclusions: considering the socio-economic conditions of the patients with congenital heart diseasewho become pregnant and their access to health care, percutaneous closure of congenital defects in theimmediate postpartum with device is safe and effective. No complications inherent to the procedure or tothe administration of antiplatelets were found