ABSTRACT
Ideally, pre-pregnancy counselling of women with heart disease will allow detailed assessment of cardiac status, and any potential risk to be explained before conception. But although most women with heart defects are aware of the diagnosis, many pregnancies are not planned, and increasingly, migrant women who may never have had a medical check-up present with previously undiagnosed heart disease in pregnancy. The most common congenital heart diseases in pregnancy are patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect. About 70% of cases are familial with autosomal dominant inheritance. There is a broad spectrum of disease, and although previously regarded as a rare disease associated with a high risk of sudden death, it is now known to be more common and often benign. A multidisciplinary plan should be developed and documented by the obstetrician, cardiologist and anaesthetist with expertise in the management of heart disease in pregnancy together with the patient.
