Temple University Hospital part of nationwide study on drug to treat heart condition in pregnancy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Temple University Hospital is part of a new nationwide study of a drug to prevent or treat a rare heart condition that happens to pregnant women and new mothers.
This study could help improve the high rate of pregnancy-related deaths among Black women in Philadelphia.
It's a condition that can happen to anyone, and it's scary, patients say.
It's emotional for 25-year-old Chelsi Svenson-Boyce to think about her little boy and what happened right after he was born.
"I got taken out by ambulance," she said. "My blood pressure was 185 over 93."
The symptoms started a few days after giving birth, she said. She had trouble breathing, and doctors first said she had pneumonia, which was the wrong diagnosis.
At Temple University Hospital, she was finally accurately diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare disorder that weakens the heart of a pregnant woman.
"It's a very, very significant condition," Temple cardiologist Dr. Deborah Crabbe said.
Crabbe said the condition is thought to be related to maternal hormones.
"It's a condition that's seen more commonly, unfortunately, in African American women," she said.
Temple is among 60 centers nationwide testing a new treatment that inhibits the hormone to eliminate or reduce the risk of the heart problem without affecting the unborn child.
"This is, I think, going to be a landmark study because it's going to be the largest collection of women enrolled to date," Crabbe said.
READ MORE: Chester County mothers band together to fight Black maternal mortality health crisis
Doctors say when found early enough, the condition can usually be treated successfully.
Svenson-Boyce, who lives in South Jersey, is not part of the study. She delivered almost two years ago and now, with drug interventions, her heart is mostly recovered. But the beginning of being a first-time mother is a scary memory.
"It's supposed to be the happiest time of your life — and it is — but you never know how delivery may go," she said.
Now she's focused on her son and feeling very grateful.
"I do feel lucky," she said. "I do get to see Jaxson grow every day."