Medical treatment of pericarditis during pregnancy

Abstract

We have followed 6 pregnancies in women affected by idiopathic pericarditis from 2002 to 2008, the largest reported clinical series. Four women were treated with aspirin 800 mg three times daily; in 3 women aspirin was gradually stopped at 20 weeks gestation, while in one case aspirin was continued till delivery. All the women were treated with prednisone, at low to moderate doses: 4 women with prednisone 10-2.5 mg daily during all the pregnancy, and 2 with prednisone starting from 25 mg daily only during the III trimester. Maternal mean age was 30.2 years, mean gestational age at delivery 38 weeks and mean birth weight 2839 g, with one infant small for gestational age. Five pregnancies were uneventful, while HELLP syndrome developed in the mother in which high-dose aspirin was continued till delivery, with rapid improvement after delivery. All the infants had a good outcome. No recurrences occurred during the pregnancies, while one mother had a recurrence 12 months after delivery, during a mean follow up of 21 months.