Letter from Chair

Welcome to the Cardio-Obstetrics Sub-section of Texas ACC!

We are very excited to announce that Texas ACC has given us the opportunity to create the Reproductive Health and Cardio-Obstetrics Section.

Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death of pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. Cardiology related conditions represented 40% of the leading causes of pregnancy related deaths in 2022. The state of Texas is leading the statistics in cardiovascular mortality and morbidity for pregnant patients in the nation. The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee found in its 2022 Biennial Report that 90% of deaths reviewed from 2019 were defined as preventable complications that can occur during childbirth. There are also significant race and ethnicity differences regarding pregnancy related cardiovascular complications. Texas has work to do to improve maternal mortality and morbidity rates.

Pregnancy is a unique opportunity for our patients to get personal attention from a group of health care providers and gives us the opportunity to diagnose risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, valvular heart disease, to name a few – but also gives the patient the possibility to positively change their outcome through early intervention.

The creation of this Section addresses the needs and gaps in cardiovascular healthcare of the pregnant women in Texas.

The Mission of the Section will be to provide the members with knowledge on the cardiovascular care of pregnant women in a structured and organized form through blogs, articles, educational events. We would like to offer a platform to connect the cardiologists all over Texas interested in taking care of pregnant women with heart disease. We would like to impact the next generation of cardiologists by involving our FIT early in their career path, so they feel comfortable taking care of these patients.

We encourage multi-disciplinary teams to be formed at local levels to help care for this vulnerable population that includes the cardiologists including fellows/ maternal fetal medicine specialist and their fellows/family physicians/ pulmonary hypertension specialists /NPs, midwifes, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, nurse navigators etc.

Our Goal is to improve maternal outcomes in Texas through education, close collaboration with TACC Advocacy groups and our obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine teams. We appreciate the opportunity to improve women’s health care in Texas.
Sincerely,
Ildiko Agoston, MD, FACC, FASE, FASNC
Clinical Professor of Medicine Charles Conrad Brown and Anna Sahm Brown Distinguished Professor in Cardiovascular Disease Director, Women’s Comprehensive Health Institute
UT Health San Antonio
Chair