Recurring short delirium with postpartum onset in two sisters.

We report on a 30-year-old woman who twice developed a short postpartum psychosis with organic signs, but without obvious organic cause. Extensive investigations only yielded a state of moderate hypercoagulability. Her sister had developed similar signs and symptoms during her second puerperium and died 5 days after her delivery. We discuss the combination of various precipitating factors for postpartum psychosis, the possible impact of the findings on its cause and its classification. Copyright 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel