Management of Pregnancy in Patients With Complex Congenital Heart Disease: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association

• Published in: Circulation (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 135; no. 8; pp. e50 - e87
• Main Authors: Canobbio, Mary M, Warnes, Carole A, Aboulhosn, Jamil, Connolly, Heidi M, Khanna, Amber, Koos, Brian J, Mital, Seema, Rose, Carl, Silversides, Candice, Stout, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association, Inc 21-02-2017
• Subjects: American Heart Association; Counseling; Female; Heart Defects, Congenital - diagnosis; Heart Defects, Congenital - prevention & control; Heart Rate - physiology; Hemodynamics - physiology; Humans; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain - analysis; Pregnancy; United States; heart defects, congenital; heart diseases; pregnancy; AHA Scientific Statements
• ISSN: 0009-7322; 1524-4539
• DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000458

Today, most female children born with congenital heart disease will reach childbearing age. For many women with complex congenital heart disease, carrying a pregnancy carries a moderate to high risk for both the mother and her fetus. Many such women, however, do not have access to adult congenital heart disease tertiary centers with experienced reproductive programs. Therefore, it is important that all practitioners who will be managing these women have current information not only on preconception counseling and diagnostic evaluation to determine maternal and fetal risk but also on how to manage them once they are pregnant and when to refer them to a regional center with expertise in pregnancy management.