Factor-VIII consumption in pre-eclampsia

In 50 women with high-risk pregnancies, increased factor-VII consumption, as estimated by the difference between the levels of factor-VIII-related antigen and factor-VIII clotting activity, correlated with the severity of pre-eclampsia, particularly when measured by increases in plasma-urate. Longitudinal studies of the evolution of pre-eclampsia demonstrated that increased factor-VIII consumption usually but not always developed before hyperuricaemia. The earliest time that abnormal factor-VIII consumption was demonstrated was at 18 weeks' gestation in a woman who had had two previous stillbirths. Subcutaneous heparin and oral dipyridamole failed to reverse the coagulation abnormality, and the fetus died in utero at 28 weeks' gestation. The renal and coagulation changes characteristic of pre-eclampsia were also seen in a patient without hypertension. This suggests that the concept of pre-eclampsia may need to be widened to include a non-hypertensive syndrome characterised by these changes in clotting and renal function.