title: Successful liver transplantation and delivery in a woman with fulminant hepatic failure occurring during the second trimester of pregnancy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Severe liver dysfunction occurring during pregnancy is an unusual but dramatic event that poses special technical and ethical issues because it involves two lives.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We report the case of a 35-year-old woman with cryptogenic fulminant hepatic failure who underwent successful orthotopic liver transplantation at 22 weeks of pregnancy. After a relatively uneventful post-operative course she delivered a normal offspring at the 27th week of gestation. There were no obstetrical complications and neonatal outcome was excellent. After a year of follow-up, the patient is doing well,and the newborn has exhibited normal psychomotor and weight/height development.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case illustrates the challenge of treating fulminant hepatic failure during pregnancy and demonstrates that liver transplantation is a feasible therapeutic option for treatment of patients with this condition, allowing successful completion of pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Higado y Departament de Gastroenterologia, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jarufe
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soza
authors.forename: Rosa María
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Pérez-Ayuso
authors.forename: José Andrés
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Poblete
authors.forename: Robinson
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Matías
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guajardo
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Arnoldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riquelme
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arrese
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second