Julie Cushman

Stroke and severe preeclampsia and eclampsia: a paradigm shift focusing on systolic blood pressure.

OBJECTIVE: To identify important clinical correlates of stroke in patients with preeclampsia and eclampsia. METHODS: The case histories of 28 patients who sustained a stroke in association with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia were scrutinized with particular attention to blood pressures. RESULTS: Stroke occurred antepartum in 12 patients, postpartum in 16. Stroke was classified as hemorrhagic-arterial in 25 of 27 patients (92.6%) and thrombotic-arterial in 2 others. Multiple sites were involved in 37% without distinct pattern. In the 24 patients being treated immediately before stroke, systolic pressure was 160 mm Hg or greater in 23 (95.8%) and more than 155 mm Hg in 100%. In contrast, only 3 of 24 patients (12.5%) exhibited prestroke diastolic pressures of 110 mm Hg or greater, only 5 of 28 reached 105 mm Hg, and only 6 (25%) exceeded a mean arterial pressure of 130 mm Hg before stroke. Only 3 patients received prestroke antihypertensives. Twelve patients sustained a stroke while receiving magnesium sulfate infusion; 8 had eclampsia. Although all blood pressure means after stroke were significantly higher than prestroke, only 5 patients exhibited more than 110 mm Hg diastolic pressures. In 18 of 28 patients, hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets syndrome did not significantly alter blood pressures compared with non–hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets. Mean systolic and diastolic changes from pregnancy baseline to prestroke values were 64.4 and 30.6 mm Hg, respectively. Maternal mortality was 53.6%; only 3 patients escaped permanent significant morbidity. CONCLUSION: In contrast to severe systolic hypertension, severe diastolic hypertension does not develop before stroke in most patients with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia. A paradigm shift is needed toward considering antihypertensive therapy for severely preeclamptic and eclamptic patients when systolic blood pressure reaches or exceeds 155–160 mm Hg. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III

Maternal benefit of high-dose intravenous corticosteroid therapy for HELLP syndrome

OBJECTIVE We compared maternal outcomes for patients with HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count) syndrome treated with or without high-dose corticosteroids to ameliorate maternal disease. STUDY DESIGN An analysis of data for patients with HELLP syndrome (platelets, <or=100,000/microL; lactate dehydrogenase level, >or=600 IU/L; aspartate aminotransferase and/or alanine aminotransferase level, >or=70 IU/L) who were treated during the 7-year epochs before and after the clinical trials in 1992 and 1993 demonstrated maternal benefit with high-dose dexamethasone. RESULTS Corticosteroid use increased from 16% (39/246 patients) for fetal indication from 1985 to 1991 to 90% (205/228 patients) for maternal-fetal indications from 1994 to 2000. Significantly reduced composite maternal disease from 1994 to 2000 was evidenced by improvements in laboratory parameters, disease progression to class 1 HELLP syndrome, the degree of hypertension, the need for antihypertensive therapy, the use of transfusion, and the presence of maternal morbidity (P<.05). Indices of postpartum recovery also were shortened significantly (P<.001). CONCLUSION Routine early initiation of high-dose intravenous corticosteroids for patients with HELLP syndrome significantly lessened maternal disease, reduced maternal morbidity, and expedited recovery.

Standardized Mississippi Protocol Treatment of 190 Patients with HELLP Syndrome: Slowing Disease Progression and Preventing New Major Maternal Morbidity

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of the Mississippi Protocol (MP) to treat HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome. Methods. Uniform early initiation of MP (corticosteroids, magnesium sulfate, systolic blood pressure control) was studied prospectively in patients admitted with severe preeclampsia/class 1 or class 2 HELLP syndrome. Results. One hundred and ninety patients between 2000 and 2007 received MP without suffering maternal death, stroke, or liver rupture. Only 39 of 163 patients (24%) not class 1 when MP began progressed to class 1 disease; only 18.2% of class 1 and 2.4% of class 2 subsequently developed major maternal morbidity. Conclusion. Early initiation of MP inhibits HELLP syndrome disease progression and severity.

HELLP Syndrome with and without Eclampsia

We assessed pregnancy outcomes for patients with HELLP syndrome (hemolysis; elevated liver enzymes; low platelet count) with and without concurrent eclampsia. We performed a retrospective investigation of data spanning three decades of patients with class 1 or 2 HELLP syndrome with concurrent eclampsia (HELLP + E) and patients with HELLP syndrome without eclampsia. Data were analyzed by appropriate tests for continuous or categorical outcomes with differences considered significant if P < 0.05. During 1981 to 1996 and 2000 to 2006, there were 693 patients with class 1 or 2 HELLP syndrome; altogether, 70 patients had HELLP + E. The only demographic difference was greater nulliparity in HELLP + E patients. Otherwise, inconsistent and clinically insignificant differences were observed between groups. Despite the relatively large size of the study groups, we were unable to detect a significant worsening of maternal or perinatal outcome in HELLP + E patients compared with HELLP patients. In our experience, eclampsia does not appear to contribute a significant adverse impact upon the course or outcome of HELLP syndrome pregnancies.

Obstetric implications of antepartum corticosteroid therapy for HELLP syndrome

OBJECTIVE: We reviewed the impact of intravenous high-dose corticosteroid administration for preterm hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets (HELLP) syndrome on vaginal delivery rate and degree of clinically significant thrombocytopenia. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 1991–2000 HELLP syndrome (platelets < 100,000/uL, lactate dehydrogenase > 600 IU/L, aspartate aminotransferase and/or alanine aminotransferase > 70 IU/L) data focusing on labor inductions for gestations of less than 34 weeks and increase in platelet count sufficient to permit regional anesthetic techniques. RESULTS: Antepartum high-dose corticosteroid use increased from 32% (1991–1995) to 67% (1996–2000) for 350 patients studied (n = 199, < 34 weeks; n = 151, > 34 weeks). Corresponding vaginal delivery rates were 32% for gestations of less than 30 weeks, 61% at 30–31 weeks, and 62% at 32–33 weeks. Similarly, 27% of patients with a platelet count of less than 75,000/uL and 52% with a platelet count of less than 100,000/uL who received high-dose corticosteroids during the study interval subsequently achieved a 100,000/uL threshold in time to perform regional anesthesia for delivery. CONCLUSION: Administration of intravenous high-dose corticosteroids for preterm HELLP syndrome increases probability of successful labor induction and candidacy for regional anesthesia. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-3