Midwives And Nurses Unity

Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy in which a pregnant woman has high blood pressure, protein in urine with or without oedema, and may develop other symptoms and problems.
-The more severe the pre-eclampsia, the greater the risk of serious complications to both mother and baby. Pre-eclampsia is thought to be due to a problem with the placenta, and so delivering the baby early is the usual treatment. Medication may be advised to help prevent complications.
RISK FACTORS
Maternal personal risk factors for preeclampsia First pregnancy -New partner/paternity -Age younger than 18 years or older than 35 years -History of preeclampsia -Family history of preeclampsia-Black race Obesity.-Interpregnancy interval less than 2 years or more than 10 years.
*-Maternal medical risk factors for preeclampsia Chronic hypertension, especially secondary causes of chronic hypertension such as hypercortisolism, hyperaldosteronism, pheochromocytoma, or renal artery stenosis .
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
- Visual disturbances-These disturbances are presumed to be due to cerebral vasospasm.
- Headache is of new onset and may be described as frontal, throbbing, or similar to a migraine headache.
- Epigastric pain is due to hepatic swelling and inflammation, with stretch of the liver capsule. Pain may be of sudden onset, is typically constant, and may be moderate-to-severe in intensity.
-While mild lower extremity edema is common in normal pregnancy, rapidly increasing or nondependent edema may be a signal of developing preeclampsia.
-NOTE : Maternal SBP greater than 160 mm Hg or DBP greater than 110 mm Hg denotes severe disease.
* The treatment for pre-eclampsia😇 *
Delivering the baby-The only complete cure is to deliver the baby. At delivery the placenta is delivered just after the baby. It is common practice to induce labour if pre-eclampsia occurs late in the pregnancy.A caesarean section can be done if necessary. The risk to the baby is small if he or she is born just a few weeks early. However, a difficult decision may have to be made if pre-eclampsia occurs earlier in the pregnancy.
Other treatmentsUntil the baby is delivered, other treatments that may be considered include:
-Magnesium sulphate. if mothers with pre-eclampsia are given magnesium sulphate, it halves the risk of developing eclampsia. Magnesium sulphate is an anticonvulsant, but prevents eclampsia much better than other types of anticonvulsants which are used for epilepsy. It does not affect the outcome of the baby, but the risk of serious consequences to the mother are much reduced. Magnesium sulphate is used especially in women with severe pre-eclampsia where there is a greater risk of developing eclampsia.