Influence of Pregnancy after Bioprosthetic Valve Replacement in Young Women: A Prospective and Comparative Five-Year Study
Walkiria S. Avila MD, Eduardo G. Rossi MD, Max Grinberg MD, José A. F. Ramires MD

It has been suggested that pregnancy accelerates the structural degeneration of bioprostheses. This study assessed the influence of pregnancy on five-year outcome after pericardial bioprosthesis replacement in 85 women. Echocardiography was carried out annually. In total, 48 women became pregnant during follow up. At five-year follow up, the probability of no clinical events was higher (p = 0.0096) in pregnant women than in non-pregnant (77.9 ± 6.1 versus 51.3 ± 8.2%), but probability of freedom from bioprosthesis structural degeneration did not differ (85.4 ± 5.1 versus 89.5 ± 5.1%; p = 0.6440), even after adjusted-age analysis (p = 0.3112). It is concluded that bioprosthesis structural changes found at five years after valve replacement might be attributed to the natural course of the biological prosthesis, and independent of pregnancy.