P. Oťapková, J. Záhumenský
Preeclampsia (PE) contributes to 2-8% pregnancy complications and persists as one
of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. In the last
decades, research articles provided evidence in support of the hypothesis that there
are two PE phenotypes dependent on the onset of the disease: early (before 34 weeks)
and late onset (after 34 weeks). Early PE is the most severe clinical variant of the
course of the disease, it occurs in 5-20% of all PE cases and is associated with intrauterine
growth restriction, pathological fetal and uterine blood circulation, the small
size of the placenta, higher incidence of induced premature delivery, neonatal morbidity
and mortality. Late PE accounts for 80-95% of all PE cases; it is associated with
maternal morbidity, normal weight of a newborn at the birth and tho normal placental
volume. During pregnancy, the placenta releases high amounts of PIGF, PIGF
binds to the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1, also known as FMS-like
tyrosine kinase- 1 (Flt-1).