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Volume 4 No. 1, January 2009 |
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Urinary Placental Growth Factor and Risk of Preeclampsia Lamiaa Al-Ahwal(1) & Sahar Hazzaa(2)
Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology(1) & Clinical
Pathology(2), Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University
Aim: This study was done to asses whether changes in the urinary
concentrations of placental growth factor (PLGF) could be detected
before the onset of clinical preeclampsia and to investigate the
predictive value of this marker in preeclamptic women. Patients &
Methods: This study was carried out on 60 pregnant women. They were
divided into two groups. The studied group included 30 preeclamptic
women & 30 healthy pregnant women as control group. Urinary
placental growth factor concentrations were determined throughout
gestation in all cases. Results: Urinary PLGF concentrations were
significantly decreased in the study group in comparison with the
control group throughout gestation. The peak concentration of PLGF
in the control group was noted at 29-32 weeks and decreased
thereafter. Significant reduction of PLGF concentrations was noticed
in mild preeclamptic cases, compared with cases in the control
group. Among cases in the study group urinary PLGF concentrations
were significantly lowered in severe preeclamptic women compared
with mild preeclamptic women. After onset of preeclampsia, mean
urinary PLGF concentrations was 44 pg/ml compared with 230 pg/ml in
controls. Conclusion: A decreased urinary PLGF concentration is
strongly associated with subsequent development of preeclampsia.
These results have exciting clinical implications and are likely to
transform the detection and treatment of preeclampsia in the future
and high risk women for preeclampsia may be the most likely to
benefit from pharmacological intervention. Large scale studies are
needed in order to draw more valuable conclusions and
recommendations.
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