Acute pulmonary edema developing after cesarean section: a case report

Objective: The aim is to present the case of sudden pulmonary edema developing after cesarean section of a pregnant woman who had undiagnosed valvular heart disease, and to raise awareness about the importance of heart diseases in pregnant women. Case: A primigravida pregnant woman who was on 33 weeks of gestation admitted to the hospital with the complaints of bleeding and contraction. Intrauterine singleton pregnancy was identified. Tocolysis was initiated and betamethazone was administered. Approximately 48 hours later, the patient was taken to cesarean section with spinal anesthesia upon finding non-reactive and variable decelerations in NST. When monitoring the patient at postoperative service, she was diagnosed with pulmonary edema due to sudden onset of maternal hypotension, tachycardia, dyspnea and tachypnea, and put into intensive care. She was discharged in full recovery one week later following the treatment at intensive care. Conclusion: Since the changes during pregnancy may sometimes show similarities with the symptoms of some cardiac pathologies, preconceptional cardiac evaluation would be an appropriate step if women planning pregnancy have cardiac risk factors.