title: Peripartum cardiomyopathy and biventricular thrombi.
abstract: Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare cardiac disorder characterized by the development of heart failure in the last month of pregnancy or up to 5 months postpartum in women without other determinable causes of cardiac failure. Intracardiac thrombi have been found at autopsy in some patients with this condition and have been demonstrated in the left or right ventricles on 2-dimensional echocardiography. A 23-year-old woman presented with peripartum cardiomyopathy and biventricular thrombi on echocardiography. The thrombi were spherical, pedunculate, shaggy and irregular in configuration, and freely mobile, suggesting that they were fresh. She was treated with conventional heart failure therapy and anticoagulants. Four days later, the apical thrombi within both ventricles had disappeared and there was no evidence of embolism on physical examination. The hypercoagulable state of the peripartum period and the severe biventricular dysfunction most likely led to the formation of biventricular thrombi.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Division, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nishi
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishimitsu
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizu
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Sadanori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Iwao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants