[ case report of successful treatment of hellp syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura by plasmapheresis]

ABSTRACT

HELLP syndrome was described in 1982 by Weinstein as a triad of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and thrombocytopenia. This syndrome develops antepartum in 70% and postpartum in 30% of cases. HELLP syndrome occurs in 0.5 to 0.9% of all pregnancies and is accompanied by disseminated intravascular coagulation [DIC] in 38% of patients. Maternal mortality rate is reported to be 1.1%. Although thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura [TTP] is rare, it is one of the most important differential diagnoses for HELLP syndrome, which may be lethal without appropriate treatment. Plasmapheresis is one of the recommended treatments in complicated and/or resistant to treatment cases. In this article we introduce a 22 years old primiparous woman with a term pregnancy that developed HELLP syndrome and DIC after delivery. Due to the lack of improvement, an accompany of TTP was diagnosed. So, she underwent plasmapheresis treatment and was discharged with full recovery after 22 sessions of treatments