Hereditary haemorragic teleangectasia and pregnancy: case report

B. della Vella, V. Unfer*, C. Nania§, M.L. Borgia§, A. Saraceno*, M. Minozzi**

Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Umberto I Hospital, Rome, Italy

*AGUNCO Obstetrics & Gynecology Center, Rome, Italy

**Institute of Gynecology and Obstetrics, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

§Department of Neuroradiology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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• Gynecology
• Obstetrics

We report an uncommon case of a 38-years-old pregnant woman affected by HHT (Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia; Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome) who underwent to a caesarean section (CS) without any complication. The patient at 36th weeks+1 day pregnancy referred to the Emergency Obstetric Unit due to a intercostals pain on left side. On third day after admission the woman started travailing and physicians decided to perform the CS.

Considering that no AVMs was found at MRI, a continuous spinal anaesthesia was planned. On postpartum day 4 the patient was discharged. This represents the only case published in the literature.
Women with HHT, especially those with arteriovenous malformations (AVM), are at high risk in pregnancy due to physiological haemodynamic changes pregnancy associated.
Early screening of patients with HHT for the presence of spinal cord or cerebral AVMs is recommended to optimise perioperative anaesthetic management and to avoid severe complications.

Corresponding Author: Beatrice della Vella, MD; e-mail: dellavella.beatrice@libero.it

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