Scientists have come up with a new, simple test for deadly high blood pressure in pregnancy using a novel biomarker — a development that could revolutionize the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, a complex condition that can be fatal if undiagnosed during pregnancy.
To develop the test, researchers at Cottage Health System and the University of California-Santa Barbara's College of Engineering identified biomarkers for pre-eclampsia, which is the most common dangerous complication of pregnancy and affects about one in 20 pregnant women.
SPECIAL: These 5 Things Flush 40 lbs. of Fat Out of Your Body — Read More.

“We are seeing the early stages of something that could be quite big,” said lead researcher by Dr. Alex Soffici, a perinatologist with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. “Therapeutics for pre-eclampsia are on the horizon.”
Soffici and colleagues identified the biomarkers by examining blood samples collected over a 2-year period from both healthy and pre-eclampsia pregnancy patients at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. The group discovered that certain antibodies are present in the blood of patients with pre-eclampsia, but not in women with healthy pregnancies, and could be used in a new diagnostic test.

The findings were presented at a recent conference for the International Society of the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy in Geneva, Switzerland.
“There are very few groups in the world working on this technology and we have found it to be exactly what the international research community was looking for,” said Soffici. “This project has great promise.”
SPECIAL: These 5 Things Flush 40 lbs. of Fat Out of Your Body — Read More.