Role of Echocardiography in Assessing Pregnant Women With and Without Heart Disease

Abstract

The cardiocirculatory changes during pregnancy and delivery are marked. In some diseases and conditions, the maternal and fetal risks are high. Echocardiography plays a very important role to diagnose and to follow up in pregnant women with heart diseases, because it is noninvasive and does not expose the patients to radiation. We reviewed the value of echocardiography to determine the conditions under which women with heart disease can tolerate pregnancy, and the fetomaternal prognosis for major heart diseases.