Journal of Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine 2013 , Vol 4, Issue 1
Peripartum Cardiomyopathy and Respiratory Failure
Pınar Çimen 1 , Cenk Kıraklı 1 , Serhan Olcay 1 , Zeynep Ucar 1 , Semra Bilaçeroğlu 1
1Clinic of Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey DOI : 10.5152/dcbybd.2013.01

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, life-threatening heart disease of unknown etiology and occurs during the peripartum period in previously healthy women. When a female patient in peripartum has respiratory and cardiac failure, the physicians should be alert about this disease because the complaints are nonspecific. Herein, we present a previously healthy 29-year-old case of PPCM who showed nonspecific respiratory symptoms leading to a preliminary diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE). Echocardiography was an important tool for establishing the eventual diagnosis of PPCM with a consistent history and clinical background. The diagnosis, clinical course, and treatment of PPCM were reviewed in the light of pertinent literatu

Keywords : Peripartum cardiomyopathy, respiratory failure, cardiogenic pulmonary edema, pregnancy