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J Am Coll Cardiol, 1999; 34:177-180 © 1999 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation |









* Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Division of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Manuscript received July 23, 1998; revised manuscript received February 11, 1999, accepted March 15, 1999.
Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Dennis M. McNamara, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Division of Cardiology, 200 Lothrop St., S558 Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
mcnamaradm{at}msx.upmc.edu
| Abstract |
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We sought to evaluate the effect of therapy with intravenous immune globulin on recovery of left ventricular function in women presenting with peripartum cardiomyopathy.
BACKGROUND
Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare complication of pregnancy that results in significant morbidity and mortality in women of childbearing age. Intravenous immune globulin has been reported to improve left ventricular systolic function in patients with acute dilated cardiomyopathy and myocarditis, but its effectiveness in peripartum cardiomyopathy is unknown.
METHODS
In this retrospective study, we compared the clinical outcomes of six women with peripartum cardiomyopathy treated with intravenous immune globulin (2 g/kg) with those of 11 recent historical control subjects. All women in the study were referred between 1991 and 1998 with class II to IV heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of <0.40. Left ventricular ejection was reassessed during early follow-up (6.1 ± 2.9 months).
RESULTS
The two groups did not differ in terms of baseline left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, months to presentation, age or multiparity. The improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction in patients treated with immune globulin was significantly greater than in the conventionally treated group (increase of 26 ± 8 ejection fraction units vs. 13 ±13, p = 0.042).
CONCLUSIONS
In this small retrospective study of women with peripartum cardiomyopathy, patients treated with immune globulin had a greater improvement in ejection fraction during early follow-up than patients treated conventionally. Given the poor prognosis of women with peripartum cardiomyopathy who do not improve, this therapy merits further study.
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Current therapeutic options consist of conventional supportive therapy for congestive heart failure (15,16). A single nonrandomized study (10) suggested immunosuppression may benefit women with biopsy-proven myocarditis. However, given the risks of immunosuppressive therapy, and the absence of a proven benefit in the myocarditis treatment trial (17), this therapy has not been widely utilized. In addition, the prevalence of myocarditis on biopsy series with peripartum cardiomyopathy ranges from 9% to 78% (10,11), and the role of immune modulatory therapy in the large percentage of women with negative biopsies remains unknown.
Intravenous immune globulin, a concentrated preparation of pooled polyclonal human antibodies (immunoglobulin G), has significant immune modulatory properties (18) and has been reported to improve left ventricular function in children with acute dilated cardiomyopathy and myocarditis (19). We have previously noted similar findings in adult patients (20); however, the effects of immune globulin therapy in peripartum cardiomyopathy have not previously been reported.
Since 1996, the management of women with severe left ventricular dysfunction from peripartum cardiomyopathy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has included administration of high dose immune globulin in addition to conventional therapy. Given the importance of early recovery of myocardial function in determining prognosis with this disorder, the purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the effect of immune globulin therapy on left ventricular systolic function within the first year after presentation.
| Methods |
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Treatment group. The treatment group consisted of six women who presented between August of 1996 and February of 1998, and were treated with immune globulin in addition to conventional therapy. Immune globulin therapy consisted of 2 g/kg of immune globulin given as 1 g/kg q.d. intravenously on two consecutive days. Conventional therapy included angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, digoxin and loop diuretics in all six patients. Only one patient was treated with a beta-adrenergic blocking agent. Two of six required inotropic therapy at the time of treatment, and one required intra-aortic balloon pump support.
Control group. The control group consisted of 11 women, 10 presenting before August of 1996, and one woman presenting after the initiation of investigations with immune globulin for whom therapy was recommended but was declined. Conventional therapy consisted of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in nine, digoxin in nine and beta-blockers in three. Two patients required inotropic support, and one required an intra-aortic balloon pump at the time of referral.
Assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (lvef). Baseline LVEF was measured by transthoracic echocardiography using modified Simpsons rule at the time of referral to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 14 patients, and radionucleotide angiography in three. One control patient died within the first week after presentation and was excluded from the follow-up analysis. In the remaining patients, LVEF was reassessed during the early follow-up at a mean of 6.1 ± 2.9 months (range 3 to 12). The time to follow-up assessment was similar for both groups (treatment 5.5 ± 2.4, control 6.4 ± 3.2 months). Left ventricular ejection fraction was reassessed using the same methodology as the baseline assessment for all but one patient.
Statistical analysis. Changes in LVEF over time were assessed using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance, with time being the within-subjects variable. Assessment of the effect of therapy over time was made by evaluating the interaction term in the model. Values are presented as mean ± standard deviation.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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The majority of patients in this study had endomyocardial biopsies that were negative for cellular inflammation. This may imply that humoral factors, autoantibodies, cytokines or other anti-inflammatory mediators are more important in the pathogenesis of peripartum cardiomyopathy than cellular autoimmunity. However, sampling error and delays in presentation limit the sensitivity of endomyocardial biopsy, making interpretation of negative biopsies problematic. Conceivably cellular mechanisms may play a more significant role than was demonstrated by the current study.
Immunologic changes of pregnancy. Adaptive immunologic changes occur during pregnancy which allow maternal tolerance of paternal antigens in the developing fetus (21). This includes the induction of suppressor cells that act to effectively suppress maternal rejection (22). These adaptive changes during pregnancy are associated with the clinical observation that autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis (23), which affect women during their reproductive years, tend to have lower relapse rates during pregnancy itself with a marked increase in the first few months postpartum. In a subset of women with recurrent spontaneous abortions, a defect in the suppression of maternal immunity has been postulated and immune globulin has been utilized to try to limit maternal rejection of the fetus (24).
Multiparity is a significant risk factor for elevations of antibodies directed against foreign human leukocyte antigens (25), demonstrating the importance of maternalfetal interactions in this form of humoral immunity which complicates cardiac transplantation. High dose immune globulin has been show to reduce the titer of autoantibodies in patients awaiting transplantation (26). Plasmaphoresis has also been utilized effectively for this purpose (27), and may be an alternative to immune globulin therapy in peripartum cardiomyopathy. Recently a small controlled study of immunoadsorption in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (28) demonstrated significant improvements in left ventricular function, suggesting that therapies directed against humoral autoimmunity may have a significant role in the treatment of this and related disorders.
Although the improvement seen in this retrospective analysis appears promising, the absence of a randomized control group limits our ability to draw firm conclusions about the efficacy of immune globulin without a larger multicenter controlled trial. The IMAC trial, a randomized prospective placebo-controlled trial of immune globulin in a related population of adult patients with myocarditis and recent onset idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, has completed the enrollment phase with outcome data available by late 1999. The results of this trial of immune globulin in a similar disorder may yield important insights in the potential use of this therapy in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy.
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