Clinicians at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist became the first to use a combined pump and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) strategy to stabilize the heart of a patient early in pregnancy.
The 35-year-old patient was traveling abroad on her babymoon when she experienced a spontaneous coronary artery dissection at 17 weeks gestation, according to a case study shared with Becker’s. This resulted in severe ischemic cardiomyopathy and acute heart failure.
Given the early gestational age and severity of the cardiac dysfunction, the multidisciplinary care team decided to perform a combined extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with temporary mechanical circulatory support via a catheter-based heart pump. The treatment successfully stabilized the patient’s hemodynamics and preserved the pregnancy.
The particular approach had never before been used in the U.S. at such an early stage to bridge pregnancy to viability following SCAD-related heart failure, a spokesperson told Becker’s.
The baby was safely delivered at 27 weeks, and recently celebrated their first birthday.
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