Related Experiment Videos
[Liver and pregnancy]
1Service d'Hépatogastroentérologie, Hôpital Trousseau, Tours, France.
Transaminase level elevation during pregnancy should be viewed as abnormal and evaluated. A high index of suspicion for acute fatty liver of pregnancy should be maintained during the third trimester, since early delivery has radically transformed the maternal and fetal prognosis of this condition. Pruritus is the main symptom of intrahepatic cholestasis, which carries a risk for the fetus. Urinary tract infection can cause cholestasis or worsen intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. In patients with preeclampsia, rapid delivery should be considered if there is evidence of HELLP syndrome. Patients with mild chronic viral hepatitis can usually carry a pregnancy to term without undue difficulty. Neonates born to HBsAg-positive mothers should receive HBV-Ig and vaccine at birth to prevent perinatal transmission of the HBV. In patients with chronic hepatitis C, serum transaminase levels often return to normal during pregnancy, although the virus remains detectable in the blood. Mother-to-infant transmission of the HCV is possible but fairly uncommon if the mother is HIV-negative.
Transaminase level elevation during pregnancy should be viewed as abnormal and evaluated. A high index of suspicion for acute fatty liver of pregnancy should be maintained during the third trimester, since early delivery has radically transformed the maternal and fetal prognosis of this condition. Pruritus is the main symptom of intrahepatic cholestasis, which carries a risk for the fetus. Urinary tract infection can cause cholestasis or worsen intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. In patients with preeclampsia, rapid delivery should be considered if there is evidence of HELLP syndrome. Patients with mild chronic viral hepatitis can usually carry a pregnancy to term without undue difficulty. Neonates born to HBsAg-positive mothers should receive HBV-Ig and vaccine at birth to prevent perinatal transmission of the HBV. In patients with chronic hepatitis C, serum transaminase levels often return to normal during pregnancy, although the virus remains detectable in the blood. Mother-to-infant transmission of the HCV is possible but fairly uncommon if the mother is HIV-negative.