REBIRTH is a nationwide health trial aimed at getting answers on causes and treatments for postpartum heart failure.Women face many potential complications during pregnancy, including postpartum cardiomyopathy, a form of heart failure that can show up after they give birth."When I started pushing, my blood pressure went up and his heart rate dropped," Svenson-Boyce recalls.But Svenson-Boyce had a hard time in the days afterward, feeling very tired and out of breath.
"When I got in the ambulance, my blood pressure was 185 over 95. they started a magnesium IV on me right away," she says. Doctors there said it was pneumonia, but after a transfer to Temple University Hospital, Svenson-Boyce learned the real cause.Cardiologist Dr. Deborah Crabbe says postpartum cardiomyopathy, or PPCM, occurs between the last month of pregnancy to five months after delivery.
"The heart muscle has weakened, and its pumping action is no longer as effective," Dr. Crabbe explains, adding, "You might see shortness of breath, swelling of the legs, difficulty walking." Risk factors include having multiple pregnancies, high blood pressure - including preeclampsia, being over 35 years of age, or being a woman of color.But because they don't help everyone, the federal REBIRTH study has been launched at 60 sites in the U-S and Canada - including Temple."Blocking that particular substance early on may have an improvement in heart function," says Dr. Crabbe."This is going to be very monumental," she says.