Diagnosis, staging and screening

Pre-eclampsia is a syndrome and as such, has no specific test. Diagnosis rests upon the recognition of features consistently associated with the condition.

Maternal factors routinely screened for include:

• blood pressure
• urine - the presence of protein
• weight - accelerated gain
• evidence of fluid retention

In the fetus:

• small for gestational age

Note:

• baseline observations eg. booking BP - cannot be over stressed; these give a benchmark against which to interpret later results. Ideally these are at 12 to 16 weeks gestation
• other factors may provide evidence of the syndrome - eg. hyperuricaemia, thrombocytopenia, haemoconcentration, abnormal aspartate aminotransferase activity