Peripartum cardiomyopathy in a COVID-19-infected woman: differential diagnosis with acute myocarditis-A case report from a Hub Institution during the COVID-19 outbreak

Echocardiography. 2020 Oct;37(10):1673-1677. doi: 10.1111/echo.14873. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Abstract

We report the case of a healthy 35-year-old woman who had experienced a flu-like syndrome during the week before childbirth and heart failure symptoms 10 days before the current hospitalization and presented to our emergency department with clinical signs of congestive heart failure, echocardiographic evidence of a severely dilated and hypokinetic heart, laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV-2 disease, and radiologic findings consistent with both virus-related pneumonia and heart failure. Early cardiac magnetic resonance was crucial for the diagnosis of postpartum cardiomyopathy and for the exclusion of virus-related myocarditis, allowing us to decide on a prudent and supportive clinical approach.

Keywords: 2D echocardiography; cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; cardiomyopathy; myopericarditis; thrombus; transthoracic echocardiography.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adult
  • Betacoronavirus*
  • COVID-19
  • Cardiomyopathies / diagnosis*
  • Cardiomyopathies / epidemiology
  • Comorbidity
  • Coronavirus Infections / complications*
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Echocardiography
  • Electrocardiography / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / methods
  • Myocarditis / diagnosis*
  • Myocarditis / epidemiology
  • Pandemics
  • Peripartum Period*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / complications*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / diagnosis*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed