The Impact of Silymarin on Improvement of Hepatic Abnormalities in Patients with Severe Preeclampsia: A Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific disorder, associated with increased blood pressure and proteinuria, and in extreme cases it can also cause liver and kidney problems. OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of silymarin on the improvement of severe preeclampsia. METHODS This randomized clinical trial was conducted at Hajar Hospital in Shahrekord, Iran, from April 2014 to September 2015. Sixty patients whose pregnancy had ended as a result of severe preeclampsia, were entered into the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of thirty study and control groups. In addition to current treatment for preeclampsia, case groups were administered 70 mg of silymarin, three and twenty four hours after the termination of pregnancy. The control group received placebo at the same time. The blood pressure and AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, uric acid, bilirubin and kidney tests were compared at the baseline and 12, 36 and 60 hours post-measurements in two groups by SPSS software, version 22, by the ANOVA test, and by the independent-samples t-test. RESULTS AST and ALT liver enzyme levels decreased significantly 36 and 60 hours after the termination of pregnancy in the study group compared to the control group (p <0.01). CONCLUSION Silymarin is used to treat liver disorders, and has beneficial results. It seems that this drug can be used for accelerating improvement of liver disorders in severe preeclampsia. However, adjusting the dose of the drug for the treatment of liver disorders in severe preeclampsia requires further studies. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with the Irct ID: IRCT201509042388/N1. FUNDING Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences supported this research (project no. 2006).