Platelets and the Beginnings of Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a syndrome that develops at the end of pregnancy, during labor, or in the immediate puerperium. It is common, dangerous to both mother and baby, unpredictable in its onset and progression, and untreatable except by terminating the pregnancy. Because its pathogenesis is undefined, there is no specific diagnostic test for it; it is recognized by the concurrence of certain abnormalities that are induced by pregnancy and regress after delivery. Hypertension and proteinuria are the most easily recognized of these abnormalities, and are the conventional signs used in all definitions of the disorder. However, the syndrome is more polymorphic . . .