Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T09:08:36.062Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 37 - Acute fatty liver of pregnancy

from Section 5 - Serious problems related to pregnancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2013

Marc van de Velde
Affiliation:
University Hospital Leuven
Helen Scholefield
Affiliation:
Liverpool Women's Hospital
Lauren A. Plante
Affiliation:
Drexel University College of Medicine
Get access

Summary

Acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) is rare and can present in a similar way to other causes of liver function abnormality both in pregnancy and non-pregnancy related. It may present with signs and symptoms of acute hepatitis, classically nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Two of the most distinctive features of AFLP are profound hypoglycemia and hyperuricemia, which is more marked than the presenting pre-eclamptic features. General anesthesia is frequently preferred for patients with AFLP, given the often severe coagulopathy. Renal and respiratory failure as well as liver failure, encephalopathy and coagulopathies are seen in AFLP. Women who develop fulminant hepatic failure and encephalopathy require transfer to a specialist liver unit. Women who develop renal failure will require optimal fluid resuscitation guided by invasive monitoring in conjunction with treatment for associated morbidity. The risk of bleeding and of venous thromboembolism needs to be balanced.
Type
Chapter
Information
Maternal Critical Care
A Multidisciplinary Approach
, pp. 418 - 427
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×