CapPPE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Capillaroscopy Post-Preeclampsia
IRAS ID
212106
Contact name
Tarek Francis Antonios
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 19 days
Research summary
Preeclampsia or toxaemia of pregnancy is a pregnancy specific disorder defined as new onset of high blood pressure (hypertension) and leakage of protein in the urine in the second half of pregnancy (after 20 weeks of gestation). Preeclampsia complicates 3-7% of all pregnancies worldwide and is a major cause of death and disease for mothers and their infants. Furthermore women with a history of preeclampsia are also at increased risk of hypertension, stroke, and heart disease in later life, the cause of which is not known. There is increasing evidence of widespread abnormalities in the small blood vessels called capillaries in this disease. Using a painless non-invasive technique called “intravital capillaroscopy” we reported for the first time that pregnant women who later on in their pregnancy developed preeclampsia, had reduced numbers of skin capillaries (capillary rarefaction) early in their pregnancy before the onset of preeclampsia and that calculating capillary rarefaction at 20-24 weeks and 27-32 weeks gestation is a significant and reliable predictor of preeclampsia. We also found that capillary rarefaction does not recover up to 3 months post delivery. We suspect that the persistence of capillary rarefaction is the cause of increased risk of hypertension, stroke, and heart disease in later life in these women.
This study aims to measure the number of skin capillaries in women with history of preeclampsia using capillaroscopy. Capillaroscopy is an attractive clinical tool as it is entirely painless, non-invasive, and reproducible.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0378
Date of REC Opinion
2 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion