Cardiac monitoring in pregnancy

Cardiac monitoring, invasive or otherwise, has as its goal the reliable ascertainment of the current physiology, as well as any pathology, of the patient’s heart. The simplest technique is a thorough auscultation via stethoscope and should be employed regardless of the level of other care that is available. Beyond this initial evaluation, numerous clinical factors may lead to the utilization of the many various methods to gather further insight into the correct diagnosis and ideal management of cardiac lesions in the pregnant patient.