[From premature birth to cardiac surgery - severe heart failure due to infective endocarditis in pregnancy - a case report].

A 25-year-old woman, gravida 2, para 1, without any previous medical history was admitted to the hospital because of the signs and symptoms of fetal distress. After a caesarean section the woman developed an acute heart failure. Echocardiography demonstrated massive vegetations attached to aortic and mitral valves with their destruction. Surgical treatment was performed immediately. The postoperative period was complicated by chronic atrioventricular third degree heart block, requiring implantation of a pacemaker. Finally the woman was discharged from hospital and is followed regularly in the out-patient cardiac clinic.