[Clinical course of premature and newborn infants of mothers with HELLP syndrome].

The HELLP-syndrome is complicated by a maternal mortality of 3.5% and a perinatal mortality between 9.5 and 60%. It is a variant of severe preeclampsia which includes hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets. It is described in the literature that neonates of mothers with HELLP-syndrome show characteristic symptoms especially thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia and prenatal somatic dystrophy. In this retrospective investigation of 36 preterm and term infants of mothers with HELLP-syndrome we found the following results: 1. Thrombocytopenia was seen in 11% and leucocytopenia in 12% of the analysed cases. Anemia was seen in 10% of the analysed neonates. They needed transfusion of blood. The rate of prenatal somatic dystrophy was increased (58%). 2. Elevated blood pressure was observed in 29% of the neonates within the analysed interval. The time of artificial ventilation of preterm infants with maternal HELLP-syndrome was in 37% extended in comparison with infants without HELLP-syndrome in pregnancy. 3. The perinatal mortality was 8%. All observed infants during delivery and of the neonatal period in our collective survived.