Hypertension in pregnancy

Hypertension occurs in 10 to 15 p cent of pregnancies. Among them, 10 to 20 % also have proteinuria. This situation defines preeclampsia, and involves a serious threat on foetal and even maternal prognosis. Presence of the hep atic (HELLP) syndrome still severely worsens the prognosis. Pathophysiology of preeclampsia is based on a very early abnormality of pla centation, leading to insufficient blood supply to the foeto-placental unit . At the maternal level, the main consequence of placental ischemia is diff use endothelial dysfunction, responsible for systemic vasoconstriction and clotting abnormalities. In such a context, merely lowering blood pressure w ith drugs is quite inefficient, or even harmful. The prognosis of this disease is mainly related to the pertinence of obstet rical management. An early preventive strategy is the most logical approach of preeclampsia, its modalities remain under discussion. Hypertension has a high recurrence rate on subsequent pregnancies. It is most often linked t o a high global vascular risk level, therefore many of those patients will become permanent hypertensives in the near future.