REVIEW  AUTOIMMUNE CUTANEOUS DISEASES AND PREGNANCY: MANAGEMENT AND TREATMENT 

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2019 June;154(3):263-76

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-0488.18.06252-1

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Autoimmune connective tissue diseases and pregnancy

Veronica ARESE ¹, Pierangela MURABITO ¹, Simone RIBERO ¹, Michele PANZONE ¹, Luca TONELLA ¹, Maria T. FIERRO ¹, Manuela PAPINI ², Pietro QUAGLINO ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Medical Sciences, Dermatologic Clinic, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ² Department of Surgical and Biomedical Sciences, Dermatologic Clinic of Terni, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

Autoimmune connective tissue-diseases are more frequent in women and deserve a multidisciplinary approach in which the dermatologist play a major role together with other physicians. Pregnancy in these patients has to be considered a high-risk situation, because of possible worsening of the mother’s disease and increased morbility and mortality for the fetus; also, therapies have to be chosen carefully because some drugs cannot be used during pregnancy. For all these reasons, the decision to become pregnant needs to consider the type of disease, stage of disease, age and clinical condition, and requires a multidisciplinary approach. A correct counselling, a close monitoring, a specific approach based on the risks involved and the use of appropriate therapies are the keys to obtain optimal pregnancy outcomes.

KEY WORDS: Undifferentiated connective tissue diseases; Pregnancy; Congenital heart block; Lupus erythematosus, systemic