Hepatic and gastrointestinal disorders in pregnancy

Abstract

The presentation, nonradiologic diagnostic evaluation, and course (including complications and outcome) of gastrointestinal disorders in pregnancy are not substantially different than for the nonpregnant patient. The possible exception is the higher mortality for pancreatitis when it occurs during pregnancy. With the exception of nausea/vomiting and hyperemesis gravidarum, there does not appear to be a gastrointestinal tract disorder that is peculiar to the pregnant state. Hepatic disorders are somewhat different in that the excretory defect-pruritus gravidarum-cholestatic jaundice spectrum and perhaps part of what presents as acute hepatic failure are intimately associated with pregnancy and have an onset and course that are tied to the gestational period. Otherwise, hepatic diseases that occur during pregnancy share the characteristic of gastrointestinal diseases, that their manifestations are not clearly different from the nonpregnant state. As is true for the diagnostic approach to all medical diseases that occur during pregnancy, radiographic procedures are prohibited. Furthermore, therapy must be reconsidered with concern for its effect on the fetus. This leads to elimination of many or all measures used for purely symptomatic or nonspecific benefit. If no harm or potential harm will accrue for the fetus, therapy for hepatic and gastrointestinal disorders preceeds in pregnancy very much as it does in the nongravid individual.