Brazilian Cardiology Society Statement for Management of Pregnancy and Family Planning in Women with Heart Disease – 2020

1. Introduction

The Women’s Cardiology Department (DCM, acronym in Portuguese) presents this document, composed in accordance with the norms established by the Brazilian Cardiology Society (SBC, acronym in Portuguese), with the aim of discussing the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases that affect women during the pregnancy and for which substantial evidence or randomized clinical trials do not exist.

In 1999, with the support of the SBC, what was at that time the Department of Heart Disease and Pregnancy published the First Consensus on Heart Disease and Pregnancy, which was groundbreaking worldwide. It drew attention to the evolution of gestation in women with heart disease, at a time when the prevailing maxim was “Women with heart disease should not get pregnant because maternal mortality is prohibitive.” After 10 years had passed, the experience of the department that has gone on to become the DCM made it necessary to reconsider the restrictions on pregnancy in women with heart disease. For this reason, in 2009, SBC Guidelines for Pregnancy in Women with Heart Disease published the therapeutic strategies available at that time, in a specific and adequate management of clinical situations.

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