Postpartum eclampsia of late onset

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1070

BMJ 2005;331:1070-1071 (5 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7524.1070

Clinical review

Lesson of the week

Postpartum eclampsia of late onset

Nalini Munjuluri, specialist registrar¹, Marc Lipman, consultant physician², Alan Valentine, consultant neuroradiologist², Paul Hardiman, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist², Allan B Maclean, professor in obstetrics and gynaecology²

¹ North Middlesex University Hospital, London N18 1QF, ² Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG

Correspondence to: N Munjuluri, 71 Lulworth Avenue, Goffs Oak EN7 5LB munjulurinalini@hotmail.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia occur in 6% to 8% of all pregnancies.¹The British eclampsia study confirmed 383 cases of eclampsiaduring 1992 and warned of the severe consequences of the condition.²In 1997 Leitch and colleagues showed that over a 60 year periodthe incidence of eclampsia had fallen from 74/10 000 to 7.4/10000, although the incidence of postpartum eclampsia had increased.³

A US study identified 229 cases of postpartum preeclampsia oreclampsia between 1992 and 2002⁴; 151 of these cases were diagnosedafter readmission to hospital with new symptoms and signs afterdelivery, and 16% (24/151) of these had eclampsia. Other workfrom the United States identified 89 cases of eclampsia during1996 to 2001⁵; 29 cases (33%) presented in the postpartum period.In both these US studies most cases developed symptoms morethan 48 hours post partum.

Most antenatal and intrapartum cases of eclampsia present . . . [Full text of this article]

Case report

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