Maternal monitoring and safety considerations during antiarrhythmic treatment for fetal supraventricular tachycardia

Abstract

Fetal tachycardia is a rare complication during pregnancy. After exclusion of maternal and fetal conditions that can result in a secondary fetal tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia is the most common cause of a primary sustained fetal tachyarrhythmia. In cases of sustained fetal supraventricular tachycardia, maternal administration of digoxin, flecainide, sotalol, and more rarely amiodarone, is considered. As these medications have the potential to cause significant adverse effects, we sought to examine maternal safety during transplacental treatment of fetal supraventricular tachycardia. In this narrative review we summarize the literature addressing pharmacologic properties, monitoring, and adverse reactions associated with medications most commonly prescribed for transplacental therapy of fetal supraventricular tachycardia. We also describe maternal monitoring practices and adverse events currently reported in the literature. In light of our findings, we provide clinicians with a suggested maternal monitoring protocol aimed at optimizing safety.

Keywords: Fetal arrhythmia; amiodarone; digoxin; fetal supraventricular tachycardia; flecainide; medication safety; pharmacology; sotalol.

Figure 1.

Flow chart of literature search.

Figure 2.

Suggested algorithm for maternal safety monitoring during administration of therapy for fetal supraventricular tachycardia.