Prenatal test joy

Diagnostics advance

A NEW $50 blood test could benefit thousands of babies and their mothers at risk of needing lifesaving premature deliveries and the uncertainty of severe complications.

After helping pioneer the test for pre-eclampsia, the Royal Women’s Hospital has become the first centre to roll out the technique to predict the likelihood of women developing the deadly condition.

In serious cases preeclampsia can cause severe damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and other organs of mother and child.

The only way to overcome the condition is to end the pregnancy by delivering the baby, regardless of whether it strikes in the 20th or 40th week of pregnancy.

The RWH’s director of pregnancy research Prof Shaun Brennecke said that for the first time mums-to-be with symptoms such as high blood pressure can be told whether they are be free to enjoy a routine pregnancy or if they need to remain under hospital monitoring for days and weeks to protect their unborn child.

“This test allows clinicians to understand the severity of the pre-eclampsia and to decide the best time to deliver the baby,” he said.

For those women with symptoms suggesting pre-eclampsia — such as dangerously high blood pressure, swelling, constant headaches and nausea — a negative result on the blood test is 99 per cent accurate in predicting they will not go on to develop the condition within the next week, and have a 95 per cent chance of not having it in the following four weeks.

Those who test positive to elevated levels of two proteins have a 30-40 per cent chance of developing pre-eclampsia over the next month and require monitoring.