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AN EARLY MARKER OF PRE-ECLAMPSIA.

Pre-eclampsia is often marked by increased peripheral vasoconstriction (or impaired vasodilation), leading to hypertension. Although the pathogenesis of this condition is unknown, increasing evidence suggests that platelets, as well as intracellular calcium levels, are somehow involved.

These investigators measured platelet calcium concentrations in 48 nulliparous black women to see if these levels might be a marker for pre-eclampsia. After administration of arginine vasopressin, platelet calcium concentrations were nearly three times higher in the 14 women who subsequently had pre-eclampsia than in the 34 who did not. The arginine vasopressin test was abnormal in the first trimester, well before pre-eclampsia developed clinically.

If these results are confirmed, then a reliable and sensitive test for pre-eclampsia will have been identified. The test could then be used to see whether early treatment (with antiplatelet agents, for example) would benefit pregnant women at risk for pre-eclampsia.

— ALK

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine August 24, 1990

Citation(s):

Redman CWG. Platelets and the beginnings of preeclampsia. N Engl J Med 1990 Aug 16 323 478-480.

• Medline abstract (Free)

Zemel MB et al. Altered platelet calcium metabolism as an early predictor of increased peripheral vascular resistance and preeclampsia in urban black women. N Engl J Med 1990 Aug 16 323 434-438.

• Medline abstract (Free)