Evaluation of cardiac symptoms during pregnancy
During pregnancy, cardiac symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, ankle swelling and palpitations are quite common. Fortunately, most of these symptoms are benign and related to the physiological hormonal changes associated with fluid retention and blood volume expansion during pregnancy.
However, some of these hormonal changes, especially the high levels of progesterone and also the co-existing physiological hypercoagulable condition during pregnancy, are occasionally responsible for occurrence of serious cardiovascular complications, such as pulmonary embolism, congestive heart failure due weakening of the heart muscle (peripartal cardiomyopathy), heart attack due to detachment of the inner lining of the coronary arteries (spontaneous coronary artery dissection) or detachment of the inner lining of the aorta (spontaneous aortic dissection). Early recognition of such serious complications is of crucial importance.