A 33-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy (gravida I, para 0) is rushed to the emergency room after suffering a seizure. The patient is hypertensive and laboratory studies show that the patient manifests nephritic syndrome. What is the appropriate diagnosis?
High-Yield Explanation
Preeclampsia, which is characterized by the triad of hypertension, proteinuria, and edema, complicates the third trimester of pregnancy (choice E). When these features are complicated by convulsions, the term eclampsia is applied. On histologic examination, the glomeruli are uniformly enlarged and the endothelial cells are swollen, an appearance that results in an apparently bloodless glomerular tuft. The other choices are not ordinarily seen as complications of pregnancy.Diagnosis: Eclampsia