Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: An update

Abstract

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a type of heart failure due to systolic dysfunction which affects childbearing women during pregnancy or in early postpartum period. Some patients have relatively mild disease while others experience significant morbidity and mortality . Although awareness about this disease has increased in last few decades based on many national and international registries (1,2), PPCM is often recognized late and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates(3). Initially described as postpartum cardiomyopathy by Ritchie etal (4), the disease few years (5) later was recognized as peripartum cardiomyopathy. In this review we will describe its definition, etiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, prognostic factors and management