Imitators of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome.

The key to the differential diagnosis of these related conditions is knowledge of the natural history of each disease process; an awareness of how this usually translates in each instance into clinical and laboratory parameters; an appreciation for the wide spectrum of findings for each of these conditions, which are more aptly considered disease syndromes rather than single diseases; and the good fortune to encounter the patient early enough or midway in the course of her disease, prior to terminal stages when all subtle differences among disease syndromes almost disappear in a blur of grossly abnormal physiology and multiple organ failures.