Women’s Heart Disease / Cardio-Obstetrics

Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the United States, yet it often is under-recognized and under-treated. We recognize the importance of preventing, identifying and treating women with cardiovascular disease.

The approach in the Center for Women’s Heart Disease is comprehensive and multi-disciplinary, addressing the unique needs of women at all stages of their life. The center employs a coordinated multidisciplinary approach including cardiologists specializing in maternal heart disease, maternal-fetal medicine experts, anesthesiologists and pulmonologists.

Director

Clinical expertise

Women’s Heart Disease Management

• Comprehensive cardiovascular care for women living with heart disease, including cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease and arrhythmias
• Expert management of cardiac conditions disproportionately affecting women, such as coronary artery dissection (SCAD), heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, coronary vasospasm, and microvascular heart disease
• Counseling regarding hormone replacement therapy in women with heart disease
• Prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease associated with cancer and cancer therapy
• Advanced surgical therapies for coronary artery disease in women, including off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery, minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting, and arterial revascularization.
• Treatment of complex aortic diseases, including chronic dissection, thoracic aortic aneurysms, and thoracoabdominal dissections and aneurysms.
• State of the art treatment of valvular heart disease, including transcatheter aortic replacement, mitral valve repair, and right anterior thoracotomy surgical aortic valve replacement.
• Medical and surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation

Multidisciplinary Maternal Cardiovascular Management Team

• Pregnancy risk assessment, planning, and management for women with pre-existing conditions including congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, aortopathy, and arrhythmia
• Management of cardiovascular complications of pregnancy including peripartum cardiomyopathy, pre-eclampsia, and coronary artery dissection
• Co-management with primary obstetrician and cardiologist or assumption of patient care, as per patient and referring physician preferences

Multidisciplinary Family Planning Clinic

• Contraception counseling for women with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions such as cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, arrhythmias, coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease
• Providing safe and effective methods of contraception, individualized to each patient’s unique cardiovascular and pregnancy risk profile
• Counseling regarding medication teratogenicity, contraceptive safety and effectiveness, and cardiovascular risk of pregnancy

Preventative Heart Health

• Cardiovascular risk assessment and risk factor modification to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease in women
• Expert management of difficult-to-control or resistant hypertension
• Recognition of cardiovascular risk factors disproportionately affecting women, including pregnancy complications (such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and fetal growth restriction) and autoimmune disease
• Lifestyle modification through individualized nutrition counseling and supervised exercise therapy

Postpartum Heart Health

• Multidisciplinary blood pressure management, cardiovascular risk factor screening, contraception provision, and health counseling through the MY HEART postpartum hypertension clinic

Clinical affiliations

The center is supported by a network of collaborative services, including:

Contact information

Referring Physicians: 314-362-1291
Patients: 314-362-1291 or 888-210-8375