ABSTRACT
HISTORIC NOTES Old names such as “benign jaundice of pregnancy” or “idiopathic jaundice of pregnancy” should not be used anymore.
DIAGNOSIS/DEFINITION Pruritus (100% of patients) and elevated serum bile acids >10 mmol/L (14 mmol/L in >90%), in the absence of other liver disease, which resolves after pregnancy (1). If normal bile acids, some accept the diagnosis with just pruritus plus abnormal transaminases (2). Other accepted names are gestational cholestasis or obstetric cholestasis. Differential diagnoses, although rare, may include pregnancy-related pruritic symptoms, cholestasis viral hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and acute fatty liver of pregnancy (Fig. 10.1, Table 10.1) (3-5).
