Developing targeted therapies for arrhythmias in pregnancy

The heart works up to 50% harder during pregnancy. This means a pregnant woman’s resting heart rate is higher, and so is her risk of developing arrhythmia. If these irregularities occur too often, they can threaten the health of both the mother and her unborn child.  

Céline Fiset and her research team are studying these changes and are vying to better understand the electrical mechanisms specific to the hearts of pregnant women. 

For more than 25 years, Dr. Fiset has been seeking to better understand how hormonal and physiological changes affect a pregnant woman’s heart. This is a field of study that remains largely unexplored.

Specifically, her work aims to establish why women are more vulnerable to certain types of arrhythmias and how hormones play a role in this condition. 

Her lab studies: 

• The electrophysiological properties of the heart during pregnancy 
• The expression of genes and proteins that regulate cardiac function  
• The ionic currents responsible for heart rhythms 

Advanced techniques and scientific breakthroughs 

As part of her research, Dr. Céline Fiset uses advanced techniques, such as human stem cell cultures to analyze the variations of electrical currents in order to eventually adapt treatments to the specific needs of pregnant women.

In fact, she and her team have demonstrated that estrogen plays a key part in these types of rhythm disorders which could explain why some women develop arrhythmia at certain points in their life, such as when they are pregnant.

This research is especially important now that more women are becoming pregnant later in life and present risk factors such as high blood pressure or obesity. By better understanding the mechanisms at play, Dr. Fiset and her team are working to ensure expectant mothers experience a more serene and safe pregnancy, at a crucial moment when their heart sets the pace for two. 
 
Her projects have the potential to lead to tangible medical advances: 

• Improved screening to identify pregnant women at risk of developing arrhythmia
• New therapeutic approaches to prevent arrythmia
• Safer and more personalized treatments for pregnant women
• New guidelines in cardiac obstetrics

Thanks to her meticulous, innovative work, Dr. Céline Fiset is revealing how complex a pregnant woman's heart is while accelerating the pace of research to develop care that better protects both the mother and her unborn child.