Researchers are closer to developing a predictive test for pre-eclampsia.
Pre-eclampsia is a dangerous condition which affects one in ten pregnancies and accounts for 15% of all premature deliveries in the UK. A team at the University of Leeds has found blood plasma taken from women with the condition contained different chemical levels from those without.
The only way to completely cure pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby. Left untreated, the condition can lead to convulsions, kidney failure and serious liver problems. But prematurely born babies are at risk of a variety of health problems, including developmental delay.
At present, urine tests and blood pressure checks diagnose those women with pre-eclampsia after 20 weeks gestation. The condition is managed for as long as possible with aspirin to bring down blood pressure, and close monitoring. But Leeds researchers hope that a scan of the blood for chemicals could spot those women at risk far earlier, and lead to better management of the condition. They now hope to develop a diagnostic kit within the next five years.
Obviously, the earlier a diagnosis is made, the better the disease can be controlled, and the more chance there is of keeping the pregnancy going for longer. Cutting the number of pre-eclampsia related premature deliveries could save the NHS millions of pounds a year. Globally, one woman dies every six minutes from the condition - although until an actual cure is found, diagnostic tests are unlikely to help many of these women.
Mr Donald Peebles, a consultant obstetrician at University College Hospital, said the research was interesting but it was too early to speak of "a breakthrough".
"But even if we could know at 16 weeks that a woman had a high chance of developing pre-eclampsia, we remain very limited in what we can do about it - at the moment it is just aspirin, monitoring, and when necessary, early delivery."
February 2008
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