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Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner, Zolt Arany, Focus on pregnancy-mediated heart and vascular disease, Cardiovascular Research, Volume 101, Issue 4, 15 March 2014, Pages 543–544, https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvu032
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Worldwide, the number of women who have a pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or develop cardiac problems during pregnancy is increasing, and CVD is the leading cause of non-obstetric mortality during pregnancy. The physiological changes that occur during pregnancy and in the peripartum period provide a challenge to the cardiovascular system of all women and especially to those with previously present cardiovascular conditions. Understanding the morphological and functional changes in normal pregnancy is therefore important for the timely recognition of cardiac pathology during this vulnerable period. However, there is still a lack of evidenced-based clinical data in this field, as well as a deficit in understanding general physiological and pathophysiological processes operating in the maternal heart around pregnancy. CVD around pregnancy thus provides challenges for both the treating physician and the basic scientist. The present Review Focus issue provides a series of reviews and original work, from both expert clinical and basic scientists in the field, which outline the present state of knowledge on critical aspects of pregnancy-mediated heart and vascular disease.
