Preeclampsia is a high blood pressure disorder found in a pregnant woman. Having preeclampsia also is a sign of damage to other organs of a pregnant lady like the liver and kidney. It begins to show usually after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It can lead to severe complications for both mother and baby.
Predict Preeclampsia With A Blood Test
There are no exact symptoms or causes for preeclampsia. Experts believe it causes by problems with blood vessels that are connected to the placenta (an organ developed in the uterus due to pregnancy.)
Preeclampsia patients carry a risk of brain injury. This disorder may be predicted with a blood test way before the symptoms start showing up. If the prediction turns out right then the disorder can be addressed earlier and treatment can be provided. Addressing preeclampsia at an early stage will reduce the maternal death rate worldwide.
The blood test isn’t available yet! but scientists say it will be available someday and the day isn’t far. Preeclampsia happens to 1 in 20 pregnant women. This test can save many pregnant women’s lives. Many women share their experience with preeclampsia which almost led them to death and led to the premature birth of the baby.
The test currently available for preeclampsia includes detecting and analyzing chemical messages preferably through uric acid. This test allows doctors to spot preeclampsia as early as 16 to 18 weeks. According to the research published in the Journal Nature, the blood test under development by Mirvie, a South San-Francisco-based company can predict the disorder at a much early stage and guarantees an accuracy rate of 75%.
Mirvie’s CEO says that though symptoms of preeclampsia show up late, the condition takes place biologically in the first trimester. Being diagnosed with the disorder and realizing it after symptoms start showing up will leave the pregnant lady with very little time to address the challenge.
Treatment for Preeclampsia involves proper medication, bed rest, labor induction and also leads to a need for Caesarean section. If it is too early then delivery may not be the best thing for both mother and the baby but Preeclampsia leaves the doctors with no other choice.
Preeclampsia blood tests may also give out false reports. The blood test developing team took out 2,539 blood samples from 1,840 women in the U.S., Europe, and Africa to better understand the working of the blood test. The results were produced by the computer after analyzing the blood samples. Some of the results predicted that the woman would get preeclampsia but she did not. So, the test cannot be completely reliable.
Though there are some of the factors in the test that needs improvements; this test is going to save women from undergoing some serious issues including death. Not only preeclampsia but also other conditions can be predicted at the early stage and will be having enough time to be addressed. Mirvie’s CEO believes it’s too early to predict the date when the test will be made available to the public but he assures to make it available as soon as possible. Dr. S. Ananth Karumanchi, who has done extensive research on Preeclampsia says that the scientists’ method is much better than the current method that is being used. There is a clear need for something like that. The blood test is going to reduce maternal death worldwide.
