Management of mechanical valve thrombosis during pregnancy, case report and review of the literature

Anticoagulant therapy of the patients with mechanical heart valve prosthesis (MHV) in the course of pregnancy requires careful monitorization and well estimation of each step regarding benefits and handicaps of each treatment strategy in the particular trimester. Unfractioned heparin with close monitoring of activated thromboplastin time (APTT), low molecular weight heparin with close monitoring of anti Xa levels or warfarin with close monitoring of INR are the main options. It may be challenging most of the sometimes because of the procoagulant nature of pregnancy as well as physiological changes like increased glomerular filtration rate. During the follow up, any recent onset symptom should call prompt and careful investigation beginning with transthoracic echocardiography and planning further transesophageal echocardiography and fluoroscopic studies if needed. If MHV thrombosis is detected, management of patients differs due to the presence of obstruction, critical illness, thromboembolic events or thrombus size. Thrombolytic therapy and the surgical thrombectomy are the options for critically ill patients. International guidelines suggest surgical approach as a first line therapy if the risk of surgery is not too high. However, the complication and success rates of studies with fibrinolytic agents are encouraging. Each strategy comes with its own particular risk and regardless of the selected strategy MHV thrombosis during the pregnancy is a high risk situation. In this paper, we report a 26 year old patient presented with recent onset dyspnea due to MHV thrombosis in the mitral position. After the failure of unfractioned heparin, and because of hemodynamic deterioration she was referred for urgent surgery. She recovered after the surgery, however baby was found to have congenital diaphragmatic hernia and is still monitored in the intensive care unit. This report includes, treatment strategies of anticoagulant medication for the pregnant patients with MHV prosthesis and management of MHV thrombosis during the pregnancy.