AccScience Publishing / AN / Volume 3 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.36922/an.3164
CASE SERIES

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome during pregnancy, labor, and post-delivery: A case series

Alyssa Khoo1* Yogi Saxena2 Ambreen Zaidi2 Eleni Okeanis Vaou1,3 Anna D. Hohler1,3
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1 Department of Neurology, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Brighton, Massachusetts, United States of America
2 Department of Neurology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
3 Department of Neurology, Faculty of Neurology Education, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Advanced Neurology 2024, 3(2), 3164 https://doi.org/10.36922/an.3164
Submitted: 14 March 2024 | Accepted: 11 June 2024 | Published: 27 June 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is an autonomic condition characterized by the presence of a >30 bpm increase in heart rate, accompanied by orthostatic symptoms, including heart palpitations, light-headedness, weakness, blurred vision, nausea, and headache. Females are commonly affected by POTS at childbearing age. This case series aims to compare the clinical presentations, autonomic dysfunction management, and pregnancy outcomes of four women with POTS. In our autonomic neurology clinic, the goal for our patients is consistent blood pressure during pregnancy. The patients were all interviewed retrospectively to determine pregnancy outcomes. Our study indicates the need for neurologists to collaborate with a team of maternal-fetal medicine specialists with advanced training in high-risk pregnancies to optimize autonomic function throughout the course of pregnancy. In addition, our results suggest that reducing medications to minimize harm can be achieved through regular monitoring at 1 – 3 month intervals during pregnancy, with a 6-week postpartum evaluation.

Keywords
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
Autonomic dysfunction
Obstetrics
Hypertension
Tachycardia
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Advanced Neurology, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9619 Print ISSN: 3060-8589, Published by AccScience Publishing