Acute pharyngolaryngeal oedema in a pre-eclamptic parturient with systemic lupus erythematosus and a recent renal transplant.

The case of a 30-year-old parous patient with multi-organ involvement due to systemic lupus erythematosus and severe hypertension at 33 weeks gestation is described. Despite uneventful general anaesthesia for a classical caesarean section she developed acute airway obstruction postoperatively which was attributed to pre-eclampsia induced laryngeal oedema.