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Conflict of interest: No Introduction and Objectives: Liver damage in preeclampsia is caused by antiangiogenic factors such as soluble tyrosine kinase, placental growth factor, and soluble endoglin. These induce endothelial injury and fibrin deposits in the hepatic microcirculation, thus modifying the physical characteristics of the liver parenchyma and therefore its stiffness. Objectives: To evaluate the correlation between the degree of liver stiffness and the severity of patients with preeclampsia. Patients / Materials and Methods: This study was observational, analytical, cross-sectional, and prospective. It included pregnant women from the 20th week of gestation, dividing them into three groups: those with a normal pregnancy, those with pre-eclampsia, and those with severe features of pre-eclampsia. Transient elastography was conducted on all participants. Pregnant women with chronic systemic arterial hypertension or pre-existing liver diseases were excluded. Descriptive statistics for measures of central tendency were utilized, and a univariate analysis was performed, considering kilopascals as the dependent variable, the three groups as fixed factors, and BMI as a covariate. Results and Discussion: 34 patients were included, 9 in the control group, 12 in the preeclampsia group and 13 in the preeclampsia with severity features group. The mean gestational age was 32 ± 5.8 weeks. The mean age was 27.26 ± 7.73 years. The mean BMI was 28.88 ± 4.83. The mean kPa in the control group was 4.35 ± 0.98, in the preeclampsia without severity features group 5.05 ± 0.87, and in the preeclampsia with severity features group 6.67 ± 1.84. The mean control group CAP was 202.82 ± 21.26 db/m2, in the preeclampsia without severity features group was 227.81 ± 47.81 db/m2, and in the preeclampsia with severity features group was 215.28 ± 37.41 db/m2. Univariate contrasts were significant for preeclampsia with severity criteria features versus preeclampsia F (2 of 23) = 7.679, p = 0.011. Preeclampsia with severity features versus control F (2 of 22) = 11.134, p = 0.003 Conclusions: Liver stiffness significantly increases in patients with preeclampsia and preeclampsia with severity features measured by transient elastography. This increase is due to intrahepatic fibrin deposition, but not by fibrosis (collagen) itself. Transient elastography could be useful as a predictor of severity in patients with preeclampsia. |
