Echo-Cardiographic Assessment of Cardiovascular Characteristics During Pregnancy and Postpartum Periods

The purpose of this echocardiographic study is to restudy the longitudinal changes in cardiac size and function during and after pregnancy in healthy women using relatively new parameters of systolic and diastolic function as well as classical measures of left ventricle (LV) function using contemporary echocardiographic machines.

We, the researchers at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, will assess diastolic function and its possible relation to shortness of breath.

A comprehensive echocardiographic study of the heart will be conducted in the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy and 3 months postpartum.

Determination of left ventricular dimensions, transvalvular Doppler flow, ejection fraction, stroke volume, cardiac output, pulmonary vein flow, tissue Doppler, flow propagation, global and segmental strain parameters, timing of peak strain and various parameters of diastolic function will be obtained.

From these data normal values for various stages of pregnancy will be determined as well as range for changes expected during longitudinal follow-up will be determined.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy women
• First trimester of a normal pregnancy
• Normal baseline echocardiogram

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnancy with more than one fetus.
• Any hemodynamically significant cardiac condition
• Any known systemic disease
• Poor quality echocardiogram