Heart disease during pregnancy

Abstract

Pregnancy, a physiological event fundamental in the preservation of human species, brings with it a fine threshold between physiological and pathological throughout the gestacional periodo, culminating in labor, expulsion of the fetus and puerperium. Cardiovascular pathologies have great prevalence at this stage of a woman's life. In general, it is assumed that the prevalence of heart disease in pregnancy is between 1% and 4% worldwide. The main hemodynamic changes related to pregnancy are the increase in cardiac output, the expansion of blood volume and the reduction of peripheral resistance, and systemic arterial pressure. Every cardiac woman of childbearing age must undergo an individual assessment based on cardiac pathology, ventricular and valve function, functional class, and the presence of cyanosis, pulmonary arterial pressure level, among others.