this is actually a UW question (14992) Peripartum cardiomyopathy manifests as a dilated cardiomyopathy, can occur during last month of pregnancy or within 5 months after delivery, pathogenesis poorly understood, but may be related to impaired function of angiogenic growth factors (e.g VEGF) or predisposed by mutations in cardiac structural proteins.

jugular venous distention = left heart failure

pulmonary edema = right heart failure

Four-chamber dilation is the most likely answer.

Other answers:

• Assymetric septal hypertrophy, myocardial disarray: these are both classic findings in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)
• endocardial fibroelastosis: a rare restrictive cardiomyopathy seen in infants/children
• lymphocytic infiltration of the myocardium: seen in viral (autoimmune) myocarditis. A cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, but there was no mention of a preceding viral illness.

Peri- or postpartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, life-threatening heart disease of unclear origin and is characterized by heart failure of sudden onset between the final weeks of pregnancy and 6 months after delivery. link to pubmed The clinical picture of PPCM corresponds to a dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) with signs of severe heart failure.