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David Churchill, Consultant
Obstetrician, Good Hope Hospital
Kara Dent, Perinatal Research Fellow, West Midlands
Perinatal Institute
April 2001
Pre-eclampsia is a complex disease process. It is
currently defined as hypertension and proteinuria during
pregnancy after 20 weeks gestation. However, it is
clear that rather than being a single entity pre-eclampsia
has more of the features of a syndrome than a disease.
It can and does present in a series of ways affecting
multiple organ systems.
The aetiology of pre-eclampsia is still unknown, although
research carried out over the last 15 years has helped
to elucidate more information regarding the patho-physiological
processes involved. Nevertheless there are still many
controversies surrounding this condition and the hypertensive
disorders of pregnancy in general. These were some
of the questions raised at the February forum and are
addressed in this review:
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