Publication:

A rare case of severe pulmonary hypertension in pregnancy

Heart diseases in pregnancy have always been a source of major concern for both the patients as well as the caregivers because of the high risk of maternal morbidity and mortality and the need for specialist care by a multidisciplinary team preferably in a tertiary care hospital. Amongst the whole gamut of heart diseases, pulmonary hypertension is associated with high maternal morbidity and mortality (in the order of 20% in some studies) and hence is considered a contraindication for pregnancy. We report a rare case of a lady at 36 weeks gestation in her second pregnancy, with a previous caesarean section, who was incidentally diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension (PAP-110 mmHg) during her antenatal check-up in the third trimester of pregnancy and survived without any major complications after being promptly referred to and treated in a multispecialty hospital. Her previous pregnancy was absolutely uneventful and even in this pregnancy she had very mild symptoms as compared to the severity of the disease found on further investigation.