When pregnant women have heart disease

Women with heart disease during pregnancy need to be especially more attentive than usual, because many complications can occur, threatening the lives of pregnant women and their babies.

Heart activity during pregnancy

(Photo: BBC)

During pregnancy, a woman's heart rate increases gradually from the 10th week of pregnancy. At the end of pregnancy, the heart rate can increase more than 10 minutes per minute, the amount of heart blood to pump to feed the mother's body and the fetus is also increase.

At the 25th week of gestation, the amount of blood through the heart can increase by 30-50%, it is estimated that the daily 'extra' of the heart is from 2,160-3,600 liters, equivalent to about 2- 4 tons.

The heart has to work more like this because when pregnant, besides nourishing itself, the mother's body must also provide oxygen and nutrients to nourish the fetus.

For healthy women, maternity is a completely natural problem, changes in pregnancy are normal, but for people with heart disease the change during this time will become very dangerous. .

The complications can be seen for people with heart disease during pregnancy

Accidents can occur right from the first weeks of pregnancy for people with severe heart disease. Usually, for women with heart disease, complications often appear from the third month of pregnancy onwards, when the mother's body has marked changes in the circulatory system.

The more you go to the second half of your pregnancy, the greater your risk of complications, especially during labor, birth, delivery and the first few days after birth.

Common disasters are:

Acute heart failure : When heart disease is weakened, the heart must work more when pregnant, especially when it comes to pushing force, resulting in a weakened and weakened heart muscle. weak heart rate and slowing down, even complete stopping, called acute heart failure.

Acute pulmonary edema : Because the heart muscle is reduced in contraction force, so it does not push blood in time, stagnant blood in the lungs, blood rushes into the lungs, flooding the alveoli, so the patient cannot breathe, the body lacks oxygen and leads to death.

Arrhythmia : When the fetus develops, the uterus enlarges the diaphragm and changes the heart's axis compared to normal, the heart is horizontal.

But when the fetus goes out, the uterus shrinks quickly, causing the heart to suddenly change from a horizontal position to normal, like falling down. This sudden change contributes to heart dysfunction, which can lead to stroke, or arrhythmia.

Infection : This complication usually occurs after birth, bacteria often spread through the bloodstream, causing damage to the inner lining of the heart, leading to infection and endocarditis of the heart, called internal inflammation. heart.

Many pregnant women have heart disease, their lives are preserved during pregnancy and childbirth, but are still dangerous after birth because of this infection.

Thrombosis due to thrombosis : The formation of blood clots during pregnancy, especially after birth, clogs the flow of blood vessels, the most dangerous is pulmonary artery blockage.

Expression: patients with shortness of breath, chest pain, cyanosis and rapid death.

The choice of women with heart disease and the necessary care during pregnancy

When a heart disease occurs, the mother always lacks oxygen and nutrients, causing the embryo to grow poorly in the uterus. In the first 3 months, a miscarriage or stillbirth may occur

Prolonged oxygen and nutrient deficiency leads to fetal distress, low birth weight (less than 2,500g) or premature birth. These children are weak, unable to adapt to the environment outside their mother's body, so they are easily infected.

If the baby is born prematurely, the lungs are not fully developed, making it easier for the child to develop endothelial disease (the alveoli of the lungs have a covered transparent membrane), the child cannot breathe and leads to death.

Heart disease has many types, can be heavy or mild, affecting the health of the mother and the fetus, directly threatening to life such as narrow, mitral valve disease, heart failure .

Therefore, women with heart disease need to make careful choices when deciding to become pregnant. If you are pregnant, you need to see if you can tolerate the process of pregnancy and childbirth, thereby deciding to keep or leave the pregnancy.

During pregnancy must be closely monitored health, have a diet, special rest, the mood is always comfortable. If there are other changes, it is often necessary to immediately go to medical facilities to be handled promptly, avoiding unfortunate accidents.

Doctor Nguyen Nam