State-of-the-Art Paper
Outcome of Pregnancy in Women With Congenital Heart Disease: A Literature Review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2007.03.027Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

A search of peer-reviewed literature was conducted to identify reports that provide data on complications associated with pregnancy in women with structural congenital heart disease (CHD). This review describes the outcome of 2,491 pregnancies, including 377 miscarriages (15%) and 114 elective abortions (5%). Important cardiac complications were seen in 11% of the pregnancies. Obstetric complications do not appear to be more prevalent. In complex CHD, premature delivery rates are high, and more children are small for gestational age. The offspring mortality was high throughout the spectrum and was related to the relatively high rate of premature delivery and recurrence of CHD.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

AVSD
atrioventricular septal defect(s)
CHD
congenital heart disease
CoA
aortic coarctation
HELLP
hemolysis elevated liver enzymes low platelets
PAVSD
pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defects
PS
pulmonary valve stenosis
SGA
small for gestational age
TGA
complete transposition of the great arteries
TOF
tetralogy of Fallot

Cited by (0)

Supported by Netherlands Heart Foundation Grant 2002 B125 to Dr. Pieper and by the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute, the Netherlands (ICIN).

1

Dr. van Veldhuisen is an established investigator for the Netherlands Heart Foundation (grant D97.017).