Question:medium
All of the following are cardiac contraindications to pregnancy, except:
All of the following are cardiac contraindications to pregnancy, except:
Show Hint
Three options fix or strain cardiac output; one is just an arrhythmia.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Eisenmenger's syndrome
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Coarctation of aorta
- WPW syndrome
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Group the choices by the kind of risk each one poses. Three of them are structural or vascular problems that cannot tolerate the volume and output rise of pregnancy, and one is simply a rhythm disorder.
Eisenmenger physiology means a reversed shunt driven by pulmonary hypertension; when systemic resistance drops in pregnancy, more deoxygenated blood crosses right to left and the mother becomes profoundly hypoxic. Severe pulmonary hypertension on its own behaves the same way because the lung vasculature is fixed and cannot offload the extra blood volume. Both sit at the top of the maternal mortality tables, near 30 to 50 percent, so pregnancy is strongly advised against.
Coarctation of the aorta is a mechanical obstruction; the surge in cardiac output and the hormonal softening of the aortic wall raise the danger of dissection or rupture, so it too is listed as a contraindication.
WPW is different in nature. It is an accessory-pathway tachyarrhythmia, not a fixed plumbing defect. It responds to antiarrhythmics or catheter ablation and does not cap the heart's ability to raise output, so pregnancy is permitted.
The one that is not a contraindication is therefore WPW syndrome.
\[\boxed{\text{WPW syndrome}}\]
Eisenmenger physiology means a reversed shunt driven by pulmonary hypertension; when systemic resistance drops in pregnancy, more deoxygenated blood crosses right to left and the mother becomes profoundly hypoxic. Severe pulmonary hypertension on its own behaves the same way because the lung vasculature is fixed and cannot offload the extra blood volume. Both sit at the top of the maternal mortality tables, near 30 to 50 percent, so pregnancy is strongly advised against.
Coarctation of the aorta is a mechanical obstruction; the surge in cardiac output and the hormonal softening of the aortic wall raise the danger of dissection or rupture, so it too is listed as a contraindication.
WPW is different in nature. It is an accessory-pathway tachyarrhythmia, not a fixed plumbing defect. It responds to antiarrhythmics or catheter ablation and does not cap the heart's ability to raise output, so pregnancy is permitted.
The one that is not a contraindication is therefore WPW syndrome.
\[\boxed{\text{WPW syndrome}}\]
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