The following studies discuss PPCM, Peripartum Cardiomyopathy as a vascular disases and the possible role of anti-angiogenic signalling in its development, potentially explaining the role of pre-eclampsia and multiple births in the development of PPCM.
Harvard University Study
A Harvard Medical School–led team has shown that a soluble form of FLT1 causes about one-third of peripartum cardiomyopathy cases—those associated with pre-eclampsia. Ongoing studies are seeking to identify small molecule inhibitors of the protein and determine whether the mechanism also underlies the other two-thirds of cases.
Source: http://www.nature.com/scibx/journal/v5/n21/full/scibx.2012.538.html
Cardiac angiogenic imbalance leads to peripartum cardiomyopathy
"These data indicate that PPCM is mainly a vascular disease, caused by excess anti-angiogenic signalling in the peripartum period. The data also explain how late pregnancy poses a threat to cardiac homeostasis, and why pre-eclampsia and multiple gestation are important risk factors for the development of PPCM."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22596155
Post Partum Cardiomyopathy / Peripartum Cardiomyopathy as a Vascular Disease
Recent study explaining how PPCM could be a vascular disease. During pregnancy a woman's vascular system increases in size to accommodate and support the growth of a baby and this study seeks to explain how otherwise healthy women could develop heart failure in pregnancy due to abnormalities in their vascular system. http://www.bidmc.org/News/InResearch/2012/May/Arany_PPCM.aspx
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