PREGNANCY IN PATIENTS WITH HEPATIC CIRRHOSIS: MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME

Sixteen pregnancies in 13 women with cirrhosis of the liver were studied. Patients with active chronic hepatitis sometimes deteriorated during pregnancy, but almost all recovered post partum. Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis became more jaundiced if their pregnancy progressed, and the serumbilirubin levels remained elevated post partum. There was 1 maternal death, in hepatic failure, of a patient with active chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Bleeding from oesophageal varices was seen once, and this patient had a portacaval anastomosis constructed in the fifth month of pregnancy; she went to term and a normal live baby was delivered. The maternal prognosis was that of the underlying liver disease and the same as for a woman with cirrhosis who had not become pregnant. There was a high foetal wastage but no apparent transmission of liver disease from the mother.