RADIOLOGIC STUDIES IN ACUTE FATTY LIVER OF PREGNANCY - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND 19 NEW CASES

OBJECTIVE: Radiologic findings thought to be characteristic of acute f atty liver of pregnancy have been described ina limited number of case s. We describe wide experience with liver imaging of this disease. STU DY DESIGN: A retrospective review was performed on charts from 1982 to 1994 to identify those patients with acute fatty liver of pregnancy w ho had radiologic studies. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients with acute f atty fiver of pregnancy were identified, for an incidence of 1/6,692 b irths. Nineteen patients underwent at least one imaging study, and sev en had more than one. Findings consistent with fatty infiltration of t he liver are found in 3/11 patients with ultrasound, 5/10 with compute d tomography (CT) and 0/5 with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Three patients with normal ultrasound scans subsequently had evidence of fa tty infiltration on CT scan. CONCLUSION: Detection of fat in the liver of patients with acute fatty liver of pregnancy with current imaging techniques is limited and did not contribute to the management of pati ents in this series. Further studies are necessary to define the role of MRI-in particular, spectroscopy.