148 Rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy part 1

Hypothetical Case: You are called to MFAU to see a woman who has just arrived via RFDS (royal flying doctor service) She is a 23 y.o indigenous woman from the Kimberley in the far north of WA. She is 33/40 G1P0 complex social history and possible substance use disorders She has PPROM (pre term premature rupture of membranes) and suspected early chorioamniotis and has been given antibiotics / nifedipine and a few litres of crystalloid fluid during the flight. The obstetric team have evaluated her – she has small for gestational age baby, and is complaining of dyspnoea. Her observations are: HR 110, NIBP 124/60, SpO2 91% on room air, T38.1 Her bloods are relatively normal except for an unexpected high BNP. You do a focussed bedside transthoracic ECHO and unexpectedly see on the PLAX (parasternal long axis view) a classical hockey stick / domed appearance of severe mitral stenosis. She also has Pulmonary B-lines (indicating pulmonary oedema) and a flattened interventricular septum, very large atrium & doppler through the tricuspid valve confirms severe pulmonary hypertension. The team decides she would be better cared for in a hospital with cardiothoracic services – however she suddenly becomes more breathless – SpO2 86% on oxygen, NIBP 80/40 HR 125, and there is a prolonged foetal bradycardia………………… Hi Everyone, This week I am joined by Dr Clinton Ellis, a cardiothoracic anaesthetist based in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, and Graeme. We discuss the management of rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy – a challenging condition which unfortunately is still relatively prevalent amongst indigenous women here in Australia. This was a wide ranging discussion so I have decided to split this into two 40min episodes. Even though we talk for over 80min I feel like we just scratched the surface on this! If you have any questions or comments send them through – I will try and get Clinton to answer them. Finally a huge shout out and thank you to the Darwin based authors of the ANZCA 2023 Blue Book article on this condition: Namrata Jhummon-Mahadnac, Matthew Mathieson, and Akshay Hungenahally! See the link to their well written narrative review on this topic below: References Australasian Anaesthesia 2023 (aka the Blue Book) – see page 39 “Obstetric anaesthesia in rheumatic heart disease – a unique perspective from the Top End” Oral vaccine could prevent rheumatic heart disease in NZ VIDEO: Researchers close to a vaccine for strep-A and rheumatic heart disease

You can listen to 148 Rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy part 1 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

148 Rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy part 1 is an episode from Obsgynaecritcare by Roger Browning - Anaesthetist.

This episode is 43:34 long.

This episode was published on Dec 17, 2025.

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