BACKGROUND Neurologic dysfunction, coma, and seizures are common in obstetric patients in the intensive care unit. OBJECTIVE To review common neurologic disorders resulting in critical illness in pregnancy. REVIEW Obstetric disorders causing coma and seizures include eclampsia, acute fatty liver of pregnancy, and amniotic fluid embolism. Preexisting disorders such as epilepsy may worsen in ...

Fulminant hepatitis is a rare complication of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2). Another rare cause of fulminant hepatitis in pregnant women is acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP). Here we present a female with fulminant hepatitis after a cesarean section whose infant clinically decompensated in the early neonatal period. Mother and child were diagnosed with fulminant hepatic failure fro...

BACKGROUND Liver dysfunction in pregnancy has serious consequences. Its frequency and characteristics have not been systematically documented in Britain. We have prospectively determined incidence, causes, and outcome of liver dysfunction in pregnancy in an obstetric unit in Southwest Wales, UK. METHODS A central laboratory identified all abnormal liver tests (bilirubin >25 micro mol/l, aspar...

The role of fat metabolism during human pregnancy and in placental growth and function is poorly understood. Mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation disorders in an affected fetus are associated with maternal diseases of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, acute fatty liver of pregnancy, and the hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets syndrome called HELLP. We have investigated the devel...

To the editor: We thank Clement et al. for their interest in our work [1] and for questioning the diagnostic sequence and management of such a complex clinical and biological situation. During pregnancy, diagnosis of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) caused by hantaviruses, including Seoul virus (SEOV), can easily be missed due to its rarity and its ‘pseudo-vasculoplacental’ clinica...

Pregnancy-related liver disorders accounted for 8% of all maternal deaths at our center from 1999 to 2011. Of the three pregnancy-related liver disorders (acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP), HELLP (Hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets) syndrome and pre-eclamptic liver dysfunction, which can lead to adverse maternal and fetal outcome, AFLP is most typically under - diagnosed. Risk...

The third trimester of pregnancy has several unique disease entities that challenge the anesthetist. Acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) is an increasingly recognized metabolic disorder found late in pregnancy. Current research estimates the incidence of AFLP at 1 per 6,659 births. Improved maternal morbidity and mortality is credited to early recognition and termination of the pregnancy. The...