New Royal Women’s Hospital blood test able to indicate pregnancies likely to face deadly condition

IT’S a life-threatening pregnancy condition that can seriously harm both mother and baby. But a world-first blood test at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital can predict the chance of the deadly condition.

Hannah Torres and her six-month-old son, Mateo. Picture: David Caird

EXCLUSIVE: A WORLD-first blood test that can predict the chance of pre-­eclampsia — the life-threatening condition faced by many pregnant women — is being rolled out at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

It helped develop the test, which will potentially save thousands of bubs and their mothers from urgent premature deliveries, with the accompanying risk of severe complications.

The Royal Women’s is the first medical centre to use the test, which signals the likelihood of the pregnant woman developing the condition.

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In serious cases, pre-eclampsia can cause severe damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and other organs of both 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.

Hannah Torres and her son Mateo were both in ­intensive care after she suffered ­severe pre-eclampsia late last year and he had to arrive prematurely.

She said: “This test is incredible. If they can test, identify and treat it, it is a win for everyone.”

Hannah Torres became incredibly ill with pre-eclampsia in the final few days of her pregnancy with Mateo. Picture: David Caird

The RWH’s director of pregnancy research, Prof Shaun Brennecke, said for the first time mums-to-be with symptoms such as high blood pressure can be told whether they are 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.

“If you did this test on 100 women, about two-thirds of them turned out not to go on to develop pre-eclampsia and one-third did go on to develop pre-eclampsia, and the test was able to discriminate quite well between those two groups.

“That meant that at least two-thirds of the 100 women who came to the hospital were able to be reassured and not have to stay in hospital, they didn’t have the anxiety and they didn’t need supervision.

“For the one third who did test positive, we are able to then focus our attention on them and make sure they have the best of health in managing their condition and timing the delivery.”

Pre-eclampsia is the most common serious medical disorder in pregnancy across the world. Picture: iStock

Hannah Torres and her six-month-old son, Mateo. Picture: David Caird

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 through the blood test have a 30-40 per cent chance of developing pre-eclampsia over the next month and require monitoring to determine if and when their baby needs to be delivered.

Results of the international study into the effectiveness of the Pre-eclampsia Ratio Test were published last year, while a follow-up trial at the RWH has now shown the test to be so cost-effective it has been adopted for at-risk mums despite not yet being able to recoup the cost on the Medicare.

As well as ending the need for other less-accurate tests, the simple $50 PERT blood test prevents the need for many women to needlessly endure weeks of expensive hospital monitoring.

Pre-eclampsia is the most common serious medical disorder in pregnancy across the world and the test is hoped to be rolled out more widely across Australia and internationally.

Just days before she was due to give birth Hannah Torres began suffering headaches, nausea, extreme exhaustion and swelling, but tried to hold off until her planned November 2 Caesarian while not appreciating the danger she was in.

After arriving at the RWH for the birth it was realised she had severe pre-eclampsia with blood pressure going through the roof.

Unusually, the hurried arrival of Ms Torres’ son Mateo was not enough to stop the condition, and the new mother spent three nights fighting in intensive care while her baby was in neonatal intensive care.

While both mother and son have made a full recovery, Ms Torres is hopeful the RWH test can be rolled out everywhere so others are saved.

She said the test was “pretty exciting”, adding: “It wasn't something I realised until later, that pre eclampsia can have detrimental effects on the baby. “

To donate to the RWH’s Miracle Mums Appeal go to: thewomens.org.au/donate

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