Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome: differences between pregnant and non-pregnant patients

• Main Authors: Luiz Carlos Porcello Marrone, Giovani Gadonski, Luciano Passamani Diogo, João Pedro Farina Brunelli, William Alves Martins, Gabriela de Oliveira Laguna, Laura Fuchs Bahlis, João Rubião Hoefel-Filho, Bartira Ercilia Pinheiro Da Costa, Carlos Eduardo Poli-de-Figueiredo, Antônio Carlos Huf Marrone, Jaderson Costa Da Costa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2014-03-01
• Series: Neurology International
• Subjects: posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, reversible leukoencephalopathy, eclampsia/pre-eclampsia, brain magnetic resonance image, cerebral autoregulation
• Online Access: http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/ni/article/view/5376

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinical-radiologic entity not yet understood, that presents with transient neurologic symptoms and particular radiological findings. Few papers show the differences between pregnant and non-pregnant patients. We review the cases of 38 women diagnosed with PRES, in order to find significant differences between pregnant (18) and non-pregnant (20) patients. We found differences among the age of patients (25.83 years old in pregnant and 29.31 years old in non pregnant; P=0.001); in the mean of highest systolic blood pressure, that was higher in non-pregnant group (185:162 mmHg; P=0.121); and in creatinine levels that was higher in non-pregnant group (3.47:1.04 mg/dL; P=0.001). To our knowledge, just a few papers analyzed whether PRES syndrome presented in the same way in pregnant and non-pregnant patients. The differences and the possible pathophisiology of this syndrome still remain enigmatic.