Severe familial hypertriglyceridemia during pregnancy - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Severe hypertriglyceridemia during pregnancy rarely occurs but it frequently produces complications, such as acute pancreatitis, a serious health risk both for the mother and the fetus. The treatment of a patient who had had acute pancreatitis due to hypertriglyceridemia (triglyceridemia = 5100 mg/dl) two months before fecundation is presented in this paper. During gestation, bezafibrate was substituted for 3.0 g omega-3 fatty acids (14% eicosapentaenoic and 11.13% docosahexaenoic acids). With this therapy, the triglyceride levels were maintained below 800 mg/dl, which is considered to be the safe limit to avoid acute pancreatitis. No complication occurred during pregnancy, the patient delivered vaginally (40 weeks), and the newborn (3075 g) did not present any morphological alterations. We conclude that an adequate diet and the use of omega-3 fatty acids were effective in preventing acute pancreatitis in this pregnant woman with serious hypertriglyceridemia. This therapeutic approach may be used alternatively to other treatments currently utilized for familial hypertriglyceridemia in pregnancy.