PEARLS
Preeclampsia Research Laboratories
PEARLS newsletter: April 2002
Volume 1 Issue 1
Recently released figures in Australia have identified a slight increase in the risk of the mother dying from preeclampsia, including among women with other medical illnesses. This reminds us that preeclampsia presents a major ongoing problem for the mother and the baby.
Recent research has confirmed that exposure to bodily secretions of the father for a time before the pregnancy (something over 4 months) decreases the chance that the mother will develop preeclampsia. This is thought to support the contribution of the mother's immune reaction to the fathers proteins present in the baby's tissues. Whether this data is sufficiently strong enough to tell us that we should delay pregnancy until a "safe" time after we start a new relationship is yet to be determined.
Website Explosion for Preeclampsia
There has been an increase in the available websites with stories and information about preeclampsia. Many are from very reputable institutions (hospital and universities) and will provide you with insights. We will nominate a "site of the month" in our newsletter on the basis of your reviewing and submitting suggestions to us at www.preeclampsia.org.au
For April the WEBSITE OF THE MONTH is http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/Mosby_factsheets/pre-eclampsia.html with fantastic illustration of the caesarean section and the position of the placenta in the mother's womb.
Submit Your Website of the month
Preeclampsia information abounds on the internet. We are interested in identifying the sites of greatest value. So, if you find a site that you think will benefit other people who have contact with someone with preeclampsia, please let us know and we will link it to the preeclampsia.org.au website.
More Stories to Share
Mother and family who have confronted preeclampsia have been kind enough to send in their stories and they are appearing on the stories page on www.preeclampsia.org.au
Local Innovations in Preeclampsia Research
Our unit is conducting laboratory studies looking at the relationship between the function of the placenta and the mother's blood pressure changes in pregnancy. Remember, in normal pregnancy the blood pressure should go down and be relatively stable. In preeclampsia the blood pressure is high and often can bounce around achieving extremely high levels (> 170 / 110mmHg).
Other studies being undertaken in our laboratory are looking at the effects of various medications on the control of extremely high blood pressure. There are very few acceptable medications that can be used in pregnancy and we should continue to learn and fine tune our approach to the control of blood pressure in the mother. There is always the likelihood that big swings in blood pressure will cause problems for the baby as well, especially if the baby is smaller than expected for the pregnancy.
We will be profiling some of our promising current work in the next edition of this newsletter.
Future of Preeclampsia Research
In this day of increasing pressure on the medical research dollar, the need for work in preeclampsia has not diminished. It is only with your ongoing support and interest that a solution may be found.
The aim of research in preeclampsia is, of course, to identify the cause and provide a "test" that will better determine who will get the disease. At present the best we can say is that twins, and triplets are more likely than single babies, and that first pregnancies are more likely than second or third. However, this information is of limited value to the individual person potentially facing problems in the pregnancy.
Once we have identified the predictive test for preeclampsia then we may be able to treat the problems and enhance the ability of the placenta to support the pregnancy to term, thus improving safety for both the mother and the baby.
It is only through the generous support of families affected by preeclampsia that our work has been able to continue. They are too modest to want public acknowledgement of their support, but none the less, the opportunity must be made to thank them on behalf of the mother and babies of the future.
Copyright Professor Annemarie Hennessy: email for permission to reproduce material on this site
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