Diagnosis: Preeclampsia
• The characteristic pathologic change seen in preeclampsia includes fibrin within portal tract vessels and periportal sinusoids. In more severe cases, periportal necrosis, hemorrhage, or rupture of the liver may occur.
• When interpreting a liver biopsy specimen, a pathologist should be aware that there are four, relatively rare hepatic conditions unique to pregnancy.
• HELLP syndrome (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) may show overlapping disease with preeclampsia/eclampsia.
• Details of the four rare hepatic conditions unique to pregnancy are presented in the table.