The Long QT Syndrome in Pregnancy

Long QT Syndrome

Long QT Syndrome, Romano Ward, Jervell-Lange Nielson Syndrome

Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is a disease of young adults and can affect women of child bearing age. Suffers of LQTS are at risk of ventricular dysrhythmias including torsades de pointes and ventricular fibrillation. Pregnancy increases the chance that any mother may have an abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia. This chance is higher with the LQTS. There are only a few reported cases of women with the LQTS having a baby in the medical literature. This can make it difficult for the doctor caring for a pregnant woman with the long QT syndrome - especially should they need an anesthetic. We would like to study as many women who have had a baby who have the long QT syndrome to give us a better idea of whether there are any arrhythmias occurring at the time of delivery.

This will be a retrospective analysis of all LQTS women managed at St. Paul's or BC Women's who have been pregnant in the last 5 years. These two hospitals both have a provincial role in the care of pregnant women, BC Women's as the designated provincial tertiary maternity care referral centre, and St. Paul's through its provincial PATCH clinic. Using the data from these two centres should capture the majority of LQTS cases in parturients in the province. We will search for these women from the Department of Anesthesia BC Women's consult database, the St. Paul's Cardiac Obstetrical Care database, and BC Women's Health Records using International Classification of Diseases - 10 coding for long QT. Then, after obtaining patient consent, review the charts collecting data using the data entry form. The cases will then be compared and any conclusions into the different anesthetic managements made.

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