@article{WaltherWesselMalbergetal.2006, author = {Walther, T and Wessel, Niels and Malberg, Hagen and Voss, Andreas and Stepan, H and Faber, R}, title = {A combined technique for predicting pre-eclampsia : concurrent measurement of uterine perfusion and analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Objective Pre-eclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy with high morbidity and mortality and an incidence of 3-5\% in all pregnancies. Early prediction is still insufficient in clinical practice. Although most pre- eclamptic patients have pathological uterine perfusion in the second trimester, perfusion disturbance has a positive predictive accuracy (PPA) only of approximately 30\%. Methods Non-invasive continuous blood pressure recordings were taken simultaneously via a finger cuff for 30 min. Time series of systolic as well as diastolic beat-to-beat pressure values were extracted to analyse heart rate and blood pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity in 102 second- trimester pregnancies, to assess predictability for pre-eclampsia (n = 16). All women underwent Doppler investigations of the uterine arteries. Results We identified a combination of three variability and baroreflex parameters to best predict pre-eclampsia several weeks before clinical manifestation. The discriminant function of these three parameters classified patients with later pre-eclampsia with a sensitivity of 87.5\%, a specificity of 83.7\%, and a PPA of 50.0\%. Combined with Doppler investigations of uterine arteries, PPA increased to 71.4\%. Conclusions This technique of incorporating one-stop clinical assessment of uterine perfusion and variability parameters in the second trimester produces the most effective prediction of pre-eclampsia to date}, language = {en} }