Treatment for pregnancy danger

Drug may reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia

Doctors have developed a drug treatment which may help combat one of the most serious and common complications in pregnancy.

The treatment, developed by the Wolfson Institute at University College Hospital in London, involves giving mothers nitric oxide.

Pre-eclampsia affects one in ten of all first time mothers.

Mild cases can be treated by bed-rest or low-dose aspirin, but serious cases can still sometimes be fatal, both for the mother and her unborn child.

The initial signs of pre-eclampsia are an increase in blood pressure, water retention and protein in the urine.

The condition may reduce the amount of oxygen that passes through the mother's placenta, increasing the risk of stillbirth.

In rare cases, the condition may develop into eclampsia which is associated with blinding headaches and fits. It can also cause failure of the kidneys.

In this instance, the only option for doctors is to induce birth early, even if it is still very premature.

Exciting development

Professor Stuart Campbell said it was an exciting development

Professor Stuart Campbell, of St George's Hospital Medical School who has been testing the treatment, said it was a "most exciting" development.

"Effectively it treats all the symptoms. The blood pressure comes down, the protein disappears from the urine and all the swelling of the body disappears - and we can prolong the pregnancy."

The cause of pre-eclampsia is unknown, but it is clear that the placenta fails to invade into the wall of the mother's uterus.

This means that there is a poor blood flow to the placenta.

The small cells in the blood known as platelets react by starting to clot together inside the blood vessels.

This releases substances that make all the blood vessels constrict and leads to high blood pressure.

Nitric oxide effectively stops the platelets sticking together.

First-time mothers are most at risk along with women who have a pregnancy with a new partner, or who are carrying twins.

The drug must undergo extensive clinical trials before it is made widely available.