A Case of Fatal Acute Pulmonary Edema due to Unrecognized Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare form of heart failure that occurs during the 6 months from the last month of pregnancy to the first 5 months after delivery. The diagnosis is made by strict clinical and echocardiography criteria. It can result in a lethal outcome; the reported mortality rate ranges from 20% to 85%. The causes of death are worsening heart failure, arrhythmia, and thromboembolic events, and over half the patients die suddenly. But the complications are often reversible if recognized promptly and treated adequately, so we should keep the differential diagnosis in mind if heart failure signs develop in a patient during the peripartum period. Herein, we describe the case of a patient diagnosed as peripartum cardiomyopathy complicated with fatal acute pulmonary edema within 1 day after delivery, who improved rapidly after optimal management of heart failure.