Maternal Death due to Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy

A pregnant woman has to adapt to various physiologic changes which follows growing and delivering a baby. In other words, a serious complication can occur in physiologic changes that may give a rise to maternal or fetal mortality if these physiologic changes are maladjusted. Maternal mortality can be an important issue in forensic pathology as well as in public health because, if an unexpected maternal death occurs despite prenatal care having been performed, it may be embroiled in a medicolegal dispute. Acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) is a characteristic liver disease associated with pregnancy that can cause death in both mother and fetus [1]. The diagnosis of AFLP usually should be based on clinical presentation with consistent laboratory results and imaging studies. However, if the mother doesn’t show any significant symptoms related to AFLP, or if AFLP is not clinically suspicious and as a result no further evaluation are performed, the diagnosis is not easy to make. In addition, the maternal mortality of AFLP was reported as approximately 18% [1] but lethal cases of AFLP are not well known. In this case report, we illustrated a sudden death case of maternal death of AFLP and we reviewed postmortem findings with literature. Korean J Leg Med 2017;40:141-144 https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2017.41.4.141