Gaddipati Vamsi C, Patel Aarti A, Cohen Adam J
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Case Rep Cardiol. 2017;2017:9561405. doi: 10.1155/2017/9561405. Epub 2017 Aug 14.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy is an uncommon, pregnancy-related form of dilated cardiomyopathy that is associated with development of new-onset left ventricular dysfunction. Its etiology is presently unknown, but current standard of care involves the use of typical drug therapy for the treatment of heart failure. Pregnancy-associated cardiomyopathy (PACM) is a similar condition that refers to patients who develop such symptoms prior to the last month of pregnancy. We report the case of a nulliparous Caucasian female who develops early, severe PACM during her first pregnancy with postpartum persistence of New York Heart Association class II-III symptoms despite medical therapy. The use of the novel heart failure agent, sacubitril/valsartan (Entresto), is initiated with near-complete resolution of her symptoms.