A comprehensive echocardiographic study of the right ventricular systolic function in pregnant women with inherited thrombophilia.
Impact of the gestational changes on cardiac contractility is not clearly defined. Our aim was to evaluate subtle changes of the right ventricular systolic function during pregnancy, assessed by new echocardiographic techniques, in a population tested for inherited thrombophilia. 87 pregnant women, with a mean age of 32 ± 4 years, genetically tested for inherited thrombophilia (22 with high-risk inherited thrombophilia and 65 control group) were included. All participants had four echocardiographic assessments, three during pregnancy (one in each trimester) and the forth at 6 months after giving birth. The right ventricular (RV) systolic function was assessed by fractional area change, ejection fraction (EF) by 3D echocardiography, tricuspid annular velocity by tissue Doppler, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, and strain by speckle tracking. Pulmonary artery pressure was estimated using the pressure gradient between right atrium and RV. Parameters of RV systolic function, at visits 2-4, had lower values compared with the first visit and were significantly lower in the high-risk thrombophilia group. Tricuspid regurgitation and pressure gradient between the right atrium and the RV had a significant increase during pregnancy for all subjects. At visit 1, there were no differences between groups, but at the next three visits there were higher values of the gradient in the high-risk thrombophilia group. High-risk inherited thrombophilia impacts the RV contractility, with higher pulmonary artery pressure. Further studies are needed to assess long-term impact on RV of high-risk inherited thrombophilia.
['Trasca|Livia Florentina|LF|0000-0002-7175-6054', 'Poenaru|Elena|E|', 'Patrascu|Natalia|N|', 'Cirstoiu|Monica|M|', 'Vinereanu|Dragos|D|']
D000328:Adult D004452:Echocardiography D005260:Female D006801:Humans D011247:Pregnancy D037841:Pregnant Women D013599:Systole D019851:Thrombophilia D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right D016278:Ventricular Function, Right
thrombophilia contractility pregnancy hypercoagulability pulmonary pressure