Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM)

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Clinical and immunologic characteristics in peripartum cardiomyopathy” (Int J Cardiol. 2006 Aug 9). Authors are Lamparter S, Pankuweit S and Maisch B from the Diakonie Krankenhaus Wehrda, Internal Medicine, Marburg-Wehrda, Germany. Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare disorder of dilated cardiomyopathy and left ventricular dysfunction occurring in the last month of pregnancy or within 5 months postpartum. Outcome of PPCM is highly variable, comprising clinical improvement and rapid deterioration unresponsive to medical treatment requiring heart transplantation or even death. In this retrospective observational study the authors report the clinicopathologic findings of 10 patients with PPCM. The findings support the hypothesis of an underlying autoimmune pathomechanism in this rare disease. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.