Can Women Get Pregnant If They Have Congenital Heart Disease?

Medical Video: Congenital Heart Disease and Pregnancy | Cincinnati Children's

Treatment advances in the past decade have made real changes to babies born with heart disorders. Approximately 85-90% of children born with congenital heart abnormalities can now survive to adulthood.

If you are a member of this newer generation of adults, you may have wondered about safety during pregnancy and childbirth.

For many women born with heart disorders, pregnancy is as safe as women with normal hearts. For some women with severe congenital heart abnormalities, pregnancy may carry a high risk, both for the mother and the baby. For women in this group, they can sometimes give birth if they are coordinated and treated specifically with a cardiologist and obstetrician.

Important notes about pregnancy and congenital heart abnormalities

Don't believe if someone says a woman with a heart disorder "can't get pregnant". This statement requires clarification from the medical team. Some women may translate this statement as a sign that they cannot get pregnant, whereas, in fact, they are more likely not to get pregnant (because of the risk of their health or the baby).

Likewise, you, who may have heard that you "can't get pregnant" when taking medications such as Coumadin (warfarin). Coumadin will not prevent pregnancy, but you may not take it during pregnancy because it can cause serious side effects in the developing fetus, such as abnormalities at birth or miscarriages. Before becoming pregnant, it is important to determine if there are any drug changes that need to be made to protect you and / or the baby.

In addition, if you or your partner has a congenital heart disorder — or there is a history of congenital heart abnormalities in the family — the risk of your child being affected by heart disease increases. Specific risks vary depending on the form of congenital heart defects that you experience. It is important to discuss this risk with a team of nurses and genetic counselors.

If you are a woman with a congenital heart disorder who hopes to get pregnant, carefully study your choices with a health care team guide who is experienced with women with congenital heart disorders.

Medical team during pregnancy

If you are born with a heart disorder, you may be used to maintaining your health yourself. Whether you have experienced caring for yourself or are just beginning to learn that you have a heart condition, you should try to find as much as possible about your condition. If your heart health is handled up to now by the family, ask, if possible, about any treatment you have taken in childhood and try to keep your medical records from any hospital where you are treated. Bring information with you to the schedule of visits related to your pregnancy.

Remember: Detailed knowledge of your heart condition will allow health care providers to work with you to provide as much allowance as possible. Critical in assessing pregnancy choices and ensuring your safety and the baby will arrange your medical team. If you have significant congenital heart disease, you are likely to have a high-risk obstetrician and / or perinatologist (an obstetrician who specializes in handling higher-risk pregnancies) who will be part of your nursing team. They will work with a cardiologist to guide you along questions about pregnancy. They will be able to advise you about any health risks and babies.

Ideally, conversations about pregnancy will take a long time before becoming pregnant. If not, involve the obstetrician and cardiologist as much as possible. If you are already pregnant, a cardiologist and obstetrician can advise you on the operation or treatment of any intervention that may be important to your heart during or after pregnancy, and drugs (medical therapy) that you may need to drink or even stop for security reasons. You will most likely be referred to perinatologist.

A team-based approach with you, perinatologist, obstetrician, and cardiologist will help determine how to keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy, as well as the best method for giving birth, whether naturally or by caesarean section.

Risk of pregnancy in women with congenital heart abnormalities

Although many women with congenital heart defects are able to deliver successfully, careful risk assessment is very important. Heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in women worldwide, and women with congenital heart disease in some cases will be more unable to tolerate cardiovascular changes that accompany pregnancy and birth.

At present, below are examples of congenital heart abnormalities that do not increase the risk to the mother (individual cases vary):

Atrial septal abnormalities or ventricular septum (without other abnormalities)
Coarction of aorta - after treatment
Tetralogy fallot - after surgery

Examples of forms of congenital heart disease are at high risk for pregnancy including:

Lung hypertension
Eisenmenger's syndrome
Severe aortic stenosis or other valve abnormalities
Single ventricular heart disease (where the heart has only one chamber that can pump blood out of the heart, rather than two) or other forms of cyanotic heart disease

The cardiologist can advise you on whether your congenital heart abnormality carries a high, medium, or low risk — and the best way to protect your health and that of your baby.

Questions to doctors about pregnancy and congenital heart disease

The questions below can help you talk to your doctor. Print or note this question and bring it to the visit. Taking notes can help you remember the doctor's response when you go home.

As a woman with congenital heart disease, is pregnancy safe for me?
As a man or woman with congenital heart disease, is my child more likely to experience congenital heart disease?
If pregnancy is not recommended, what are my contraceptive choices?
Are some forms of contraception safer than others?

Can Women Get Pregnant If They Have Congenital Heart Disease?

Rated 5/5 based on 2742 reviews