Hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary malignant liver tumor and typically develops in the context of chronic liver disease, such as liver cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Ultrasound evaluation, CT scan, and MRI are used to detect HCC. α-fetoprotein (AFP) is a common marker used to detect HCC in the non-pregnant population, which notoriously increases in pregnant women in relation to gestational age. Treatment is driven by the extent of the disease and the severity of underlying liver disease. Pregnancy may represent an obstacle to diagnosis and appropriate treatment of HCC. The aim of this descriptive systematic review was to describe the clinical features and maternal and neonatal outcomes of HCC in pregnancy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a systematic review of the literature about HCC diagnosed in pregnancy and the postpartum period, with signs or symptoms arising in pregnancy. We included case reports and case series describing the clinical features of women diagnosed with HCC, fibrolamellar variant of HCC, and mixed HCC and cholangiocarcinoma during pregnancy or the postpartum period (with onset of symptoms during pregnancy), from inception to March 2023. The study protocol was registered with the PROSPERO database (Registration number: ID CRD42021275584). RESULTS: We identified 180 records. The articles included in this systematic review were 47 case reports and 5 case series, for a total of 63 pregnancies. The two most frequent predisposing conditions were hepatitis B virus infection (30/63; 47%) and liver cirrhosis (14/63; 22%). Ultrasound evaluation was the most used technique to detect HCC. AFP was higher than normal in 28/46 patients tested (61%). Surgical treatment was the most used therapy, both during pregnancy and after delivery. Twenty-six patients (26/63; 42%) died within 6 months of diagnosis. Survival >24 months was 9% (4/46) in symptomatic and 29% (5/17) in asymptomatic women. No patient with cirrhotic liver survived more than 12 months. Thirty-eight newborns were alive at 28 days of age (38/63; 61%). CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy is associated with a high risk of maternal and neonatal mortality. Diagnosis in asymptomatic high-risk women or following abnormal maternal serum AFP screening is associated with better maternal outcomes.

Ultrasound and MRI appearance of abnormally adherent placenta in a woman with Asherman's syndrome.

Although 10% of pregnancies following treatment of Asherman's syndrome are estimated to have abnormal placental adhesion, there is a paucity of reports describing imaging features in such cases. We describe ultrasound and MRI features in one of such cases, showing a peculiar pattern of shallow but diffuse abnormally adherent placenta.

Preeclampsia and late fetal growth restriction.

There is a strong but complex relationship between fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. According to the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy the coexistence of gestational hypertension and fetal growth restriction identifies preeclampsia with no need for other signs of maternal organ impairment. While early-onset fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia are often strictly associated, such association becomes looser in the late preterm and term periods. The incidence of preeclampsia decreases dramatically from early preterm fetal growth restriction (39-43%) to late preterm fetal growth restriction (9-32%) and finally to term fetal growth restriction (4-7%). Different placental and cardiovascular mechanism underlie this trend: isolated fetal growth restriction has less frequent placental vascular lesions than fetal growth restriction associated with preeclampsia; moreover, late preterm and term fetal growth restriction show different patterns of maternal cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance in comparison with preeclampsia. Consequently, current strategies for first trimester screening of placental dysfunction, originally implemented for preeclampsia, do not perform well for late-onset fetal growth restriction: the sensitivity of first trimester combined screening for small-for-gestational age newborns delivered at less than 32 weeks is 56-63%, and progressively decreases for those delivered at 32-36 weeks (43-48%) or at term (21-26%). Moreover, while the test is more sensitive for small-for-gestational age associated with preeclampsia at any gestational age, its sensitivity is much lower for small-for-gestational age without preeclampsia at 32-36 weeks (31-37%) or at term (19-23%).