Acute fatty liver of pregnancy in a Chinese Tertiary Care Center: a retrospective study

To describe some prenatal clinical features and laboratory findings of AFLP and provide the clinicians with potential predictors in postpartum recovery time.

Forty-four cases of AFLP previously treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively reviewed.

The maternal and fetal mortalities after treatment were both 18.2%. The main symptoms of AFLP were nausea and vomiting (63.6%), jaundice (61.4%). Moreover, the most common maternal complication was acute renal dysfunction (79.5%), followed by DIC (47.7%) and MODS (38.6%). The level of platelets, total protein and total bilirubin were found to be correlated with postpartum recovery time (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.434, P = 0.008; 0.466, P = 0.005; 0.484, P = 0.003).

AFLP is a rare, but lethal complication in the third trimester. Termination of pregnancy should be applied once AFLP was highly suspected. Prenatal platelets, total protein and total bilirubin may be potential predictors of postpartum recovery.