Recent advances in the aetiology and management of pre-eclampsia

Despite advances in antenatal and intrapartum care, hypertensive disorders remain the second most common cause of maternal mortality. The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom (1988-90) (Department of Health, 1994) demonstrated that the number of deaths where hypertensive disease was the direct cause had not decreased since the previous trienium. The morbidity from this condition remains largely unquantified and many aspects of the aetiology and disease processes remain unknown.