Pregnancy-associated pulmonary embolism remains the leading cause of direct maternal mortality globally.
We will present a case of a young lady who was one month post-delivery via normal vaginal delivery. She
presented with pulmonary edema and her clinical examination was consistent with severe mitral stenosis.
Notably, her previous and recent pregnancies were uneventful. The key question was: why is there a sudden
deterioration? “Why now?”. This led to an industrious search of a precipitant for her presentation; a
diagnosis of severe rheumatic mitral stenosis complicated by pulmonary edema precipitated by a pulmonary
embolism was made. The patient later had a valve replacement with good outcomes.
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