MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Every year in the U.S., more than 500,000 people are diagnosed with congestive heart failure, which affects people of all ages from children to the elderly.
After years of trying to get pregnant, Andrea Iglesias and her husband welcomed their son Liam into the world on April 21.
Eight days later, their shared joy turned to fear.
“It was early morning. I was breastfeeding him and I had this weird feeling in my chest and I felt faint and just basically ended up collapsing,” Iglesias, 37, said.
Paramedics rushed her to Kendall Regional Medical Center.
“And then come to find when I get to the hospital that I’ve had a heart attack, which myself and no one in my family could believe that was even a possibility,” she said.
In technical terms, Iglesias suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, which is one of the most common causes of pregnancy-associated heart attacks.
“I think it’s a combination of hormonal changes in the body, volume changes in the body and definitely the stress of giving birth and going through lactation,” said Dr. Hector Crespo, an interventional cardiologist with Kendall Regional Medical Center.
Without immediate intervention, Crespo said patients can go into cardiogenic shock.
“And cardiogenic shock basically presents with a mortality rate of anywhere from 20 to 70 percent,” Crespo said.
In Iglesias’s case, the team at Kendall Regional was able to quickly repair the damage to her heart and then temporarily implant a device called the Impella CP with Smart Assist, which is considered the world’s smallest heart pump.
“Even though it looks small, it’s very powerful. It takes over the whole function of the heart so it can pump anywhere from two to five liters of blood per minute,” Crespo said.
“That’s what allowed my heart to rest for a few days to recover,” Iglesias added.
Once her heart was able to function on its own again, the Impella device was removed and Iglesias was back home with her husband and son.
She said she’s grateful that when her heart failed, technology was on her side.
“I was really fortunate that I had a team that recognized it and intervened appropriately and quickly enough for me to still be here,” Iglesias said.
The Impella device can be left in for a few days or a couple of weeks after surgery to help the patient’s heart recover.
It can also be used as a bridge to a permanent heart pump and transplant surgery.