Liver disease in pregnancy.

Liver dysfunction during pregnancy can be caused by conditions that are specific to pregnancy or by liver diseases that are not related to pregnancy itself. This review attempts to summarize the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and management of the different pregnancy-related liver diseases, and to review different liver diseases not related to pregnancy and how they may affect or be effected by pregnancy. Some of the liver diseases specific to pregnancy can cause significant morbidity and mortality both to the mother and to the fetus, while most of the liver diseases not specific to pregnancy do not have a deleterious effect on the pregnancy itself.