Beyond the Headlines: Understanding the new preeclampsia test

Thermo Fisher Scientific recently got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for two blood-based tests to help providers to assess whether a hospitalized patient is going to develop preeclampsia with severe features within a two-week period. In this episode, Preeclampsia Foundation CEO Eleni Tsigas goes "Beyond the Headlines" to meet with clinical and research experts to talk about what this means for patients.
Sarosh Rana, MD, MPH, is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and section chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of Chicago-Health. She is also the Co-Chair of the Preeclampsia Foundation Scientific Advisory Council. Along with her experience as a clinician, she is a prolific researcher in preeclampsia and biomarkers, and was one of the leading co-authors of the paper “Circulating Angiogenic Factor Levels in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy” which helped to validate the results of this test in a US population.
Ravi I. Thadhani, MD, MPH, is the executive vice president for health affairs (EVPHA) of Emory University, executive director of Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC), and vice chair of the Emory Healthcare Board of Directors, where he oversees their renowned academic health sciences enterprise focused on advancing research, training, and healthcare delivery innovation. With over 30 years as a researcher and an internal medicine physician, he was a co-author of the research study to validate these results and has performed several clinical trials focused on effective treatments and preventative measures for preeclampsia.
Dr. Stefan Verlohren, MD, PhD is a researcher, clinician, and Professor of Obstetrics and Consultant in Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Dr. Verlohren has published extensively on the use of the sFlt-1 & PlGF biomarkers to predict preeclampsia, including using these in clinical practice for many years in Germany and Europe.

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I am wondering if people who have mothers who had severe preeclampsia would fall into a high risk population category even if they have none of the high risk factors you describe.

[@PreeclampsiaFoundation]

Yes - a family history of preeclampsia (especially a mother or sister) puts a patient at higher risk of developing preeclampsia herself. Those patients should speak with their healthcare providers prior to or in the early parts of pregnancy to discuss whether aspirin therapy might be advised given their family history.