Fulminant ulcerative colitis in pregnancy.
Most pregnant women with a history of ulcerative colitis will have a normal pregnancy and deliver a healthy child. Medical therapy can usually control the disease in those patients who experience an exacerbation, and only a minority of women progress to severe colitis necessitating surgery in pregnancy. We describe a woman who developed colitis in the first weeks of pregnancy that initially responded to steroid enemas. She then relapsed and progressed to severe colitis requiring a sub-total colectomy in the 26th wk of pregnancy. This was complicated by intra-abdominal sepsis and an abscess that required drainage. She successfully completed pregnancy, to be delivered of a healthy daughter in the 32nd wk of pregnancy.
Boulton
R
R
University Department of Medicine, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Hamilton
M
M
Lewis
A
A
Walker
P
P
Pounder
R
R
D000328:Adult; D003082:Colectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery