A blood test for pre-eclampsia could be in the pipeline

A condition in pregnancy which costs the lives of thousands of babies each year may soon be identified by a simple blood test long before symptoms develop.

Pre-eclampsia affects up to one in ten women in the later stages of pregnancy and places the baby's life at risk - symptoms include high blood pressure, protein in urine, swelling and in severe cases, liver problems and seizures. Pre-eclampsia can also affect an unborn baby by causing growth impairment in the womb and prompting a premature delivery.

A new study suggests it could be detected as early as the first trimester which would save many lives by enabling closer monitoring of high-risk pregnancies.

Experts say at present it can only be picked up by routine urine and blood pressure checks after 20 weeks and then the condition is managed for as long as possible with aspirin and extra monitoring, but delivery is often the only option.

The study's lead researcher Dr. Victoria Bills, who is an obstetrician, says the discovery of a protein in the blood that appears to be linked with pre-eclampsia may be useful in predicting the condition early on in pregnancy.

Dr. Bills says in the next five to ten years it may be possible to develop a simple blood test which can be offered to women as early as 12 weeks in order to quantify whether they are at risk.

According to Dr. Bills the substance VEGF165b, might provide a clue to the cause of pre-eclampsia, and possibly eventually provide a way to prevent it.

Experts say the study involving 70 patients, was part of a massive effort by researchers worldwide to predict poor pregnancy outcome, particularly pre-eclampsia and premature labour but they say the research needs to be carried out on larger numbers of patients and compared with other proteins that might also indicate early signs of pre-eclampsia.

Some experts believe a predictive test for pre-eclampsia represents a "holy grail" in medicine as many lives could be saved.

The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and conducted at St Michael's Hospital, Bristol, and the University of Bristol.

The research team measured levels of the chemical in pregnant women at 12 weeks and then at intervals throughout gestation and found in normal pregnancies that there was a large increase in the protein by the end of the first trimester, but in women who went on to develop pre-eclampsia it barely increased at all.

The research is published in Clinical Science Journal.