Potentially life-threatening emergency
Eclampsia
Alerts and Notices
Synopsis
Eclampsia is estimated to occur in 0.1%-2.7% of pregnancies worldwide. This wide range in incidence is likely to represent higher occurrence in areas of the world where interventions earlier in the preeclampsia disease spectrum are less readily available and/or access to prenatal care is limited.
Eclampsia can occur antepartum, intrapartum, or postpartum with roughly a third to half of cases occurring antepartum and a quarter of cases occurring either intrapartum or postpartum. Postpartum preeclampsia and eclampsia can occur up to 3 weeks following delivery, but occurrence after the first 2 postpartum days is exceedingly rare.
Related topic: HELLP syndrome
Codes
ICD10CM:O15.9 – Eclampsia, unspecified as to time period
SNOMEDCT:
15938005 – Eclampsia
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Diagnostic Pearls
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Differential Diagnosis & Pitfalls
- Epilepsy
- Central nervous system (CNS) pathologies – CNS tumors, encephalitis, meningitis
- Cerebral vascular compromise – hemorrhagic, ischemic, related to aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation, cerebral angiitis
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
- Metabolic diseases
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Therapy
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References
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Last Reviewed:11/19/2017
Last Updated:11/19/2017
Last Updated:11/19/2017