title: Left ventricular function in preeclamptic patients: an echocardiographic study.
abstract: To examine left ventricular function in pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia, echocardiographic dimensions and left ventricular performance indices were determined in 42 preeclamptic patients, 25 normotensive third-trimester patients, and 25 nonpregnant patients. The performance of the left ventricle in normal third-trimester pregnant patients was unchanged as compared to that in nonpregnant patients. Three patients (7%) in the preeclamptic group had diminished values of echocardiographic contractility indices. However, in only one of these patients were there clinical signs of left heart failure; two other patients had latent myocardial dysfunction. Our conclusion is that left ventricular function in most preeclamptic patients is well preserved despite significant volume and pressure overload.
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D013318:Stroke Volume