Cerebrovascular disorders complicating pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
This article discusses the physiologic changes of pregnancy and how they affect risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and then reviews epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in pregnancy and the puerperium.


RESULTS
This article updates our understanding of the relationship of preeclampsia/eclampsia to the posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome and the reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, emphasizing their shared pathogenesis. It reviews the most recent data and offers recommendations concerning the use of thrombolytic and other revascularization therapies for pregnancy-related strokes.


CONCLUSIONS
Although cerebrovascular complications are uncommon occurrences during pregnancy and the puerperium, stroke is still the most common seriously disabling complication of pregnancy. Therefore, stroke and other vascular issues raise questions about the best evaluation and management that is safe for mother and child.
Steven K
SK
Feske
Aneesh B
AB
Singhal
D000328:Adult; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult