Successful Treatment of Peripartum Cardiomyopathy with Plasmapheresis.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, life-threatening disease of late pregnancy and early puerperium among previously healthy women. Management of this challenging disease is similar to other forms of systolic heart failure. Unfortunately, only 30% to 50% of patients recover completely. Among the remaining patients, continued poor ejection fraction indicates irreversible cardiomyopathy and portends a poor outcome. Immune complexes, autoantibodies, or toxic proteins are likely causative agents. Herein, we report first two PPCM cases that were successfully managed with plasmapheresis.


BACKGROUND
Peripartum cardiomyopathy; Plasmapheresis.
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan;
Tzu-Lin
TL
Wang
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan;
Huei-Fong
HF
Hung
Department of Neurology, Plasmapheresis Center, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Kou-Gi
KG
Shyu
Department of Neurology, Plasmapheresis Center, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Jiann-Horng
JH
Yeh
Department of Neurology, Plasmapheresis Center, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hou-Chang
HC
Chiu