With Emmanouil Kampanieris, University General Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion - Greece, and Peter Van Der Meer, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen - The Netherlands.

In this episode, Peter Van Der Meer and Emmanouil Kampanieris discuss peripartum cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening condition that presents as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in women in the last month of pregnancy or in the months after delivery, after other causes of heart failure have been excluded.

Peripartum Cardiomyopathy is defined as cardiomyopathy occurring towards the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery with a left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) < 45%, when other causes for heart failure have been excluded1. Its incidence differs widely depending on the geographic area being higher in developing countries, as 1:100 pregnancies in Nigeria, while in developed countries being lower, as 1:1500 pregnancies in Germany1. Several risk factors have been associated with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, as pre-eclampsia and many more2. More than half of the affected individuals receiving the appropriate treatment for heart failure have a full recovery in 6 months3. The role of bromocriptine as a potential specific treatment for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy remains uncertain and randomized clinical trials are needed for determining its benefits and safety 2,4. Women willing to have a subsequent pregnancy should be counseled and monitored by a multidisciplinary team experienced with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy3.

References:

1. Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of peripartum cardiomyopathy: a position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on peripartum cardiomyopathy.

2. Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: JACC State-of-the-Art Review

3. Long-term prognosis, subsequent pregnancy, contraception and overall management of peripartum cardiomyopathy: practical guidance paper from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

4. Bromocriptine treatment and outcomes in peripartum cardiomyopathy: the EORP PPCM registry

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Nicolas Verheyen, Medical University of Graz, Graz - Austria, and Lars Kober, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen - Denmark.

In this episode of HFA CardioTalk, Nicolas Verheyen interviews Lars Kober on controversies in ICD/CRT implantation in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy for primary prevention. They focus in particular on the importance of selecting the right patients, and discuss biomarkers beyond left ventricular ejection fraction that may add value in predicting sudden death risk, and the need of randomized controlled trials with adequate endpoint selection to guide prophylactic ICD implantation.

Related scientific paper:

• 2021 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure
• 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiomyopathies
• Defibrillator Implantation in Patients with Nonischemic Systolic Heart Failure
• 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiomyopathies: Developed by the task force on the management of cardiomyopathies of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Jozine ter Maaten, University Medical Center Groningen - The Netherlands, Antonio Cannata, King's College London - UK, Mateusz Sokolski, Wroclaw Medical University - Poland, Henrike Arfsten, Medical University of Vienna - Austria, Stefan Anker, Charité University Hospital Berlin - Germany, Muthiuh Vaduganathan, Brigham and Women's hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston - USA, Cornelia Margineanu, Bucharest – Romania and Kengo Kusano, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Hospital, Osaka - Japan.

In this multivoice podcast from the ESC Congress 2024, the main results of three randomized controlled clinical trials (FINEARTS-HF, RESHAPE-HF2, and CRABL-HF) are discussed.

Links to the papers:

FINEARTS-HF

RESHAPE-HF2

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.