[Clinico-echocardiographic correlation in a case of peripartum cardiopathy].

A case of post-partum cardiomyopathy in a patient with pansystolic mitral prolapse is presented. Two days after delivery the patient had an episode suggestive of pulmonary thromboembolism with heart failure. The diagnosis was not confirmed by a lung scan. Chest X rays showed cardiomegaly and pulmonary congestion. M-mode echocardiography showed pansystolic mitral prolapse, dilatation of the left ventricle and generalized hypomobility of the walls. Two weeks later the patient was asymptomatic, chest X rays were normal and the echocardiogram showed mitral prolapse with normal size cavities and movement of the walls. The difficulties to establish the diagnosis of this process employing conventional methods of diagnosis is discussed. The importance of echocardiography in the detection and follow-up of this condition is stressed.