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Did you know that the rate of premature birth has never been higher? And doctors, scientists, researchers and loving parents and families simply don’t understand what is going wrong.

Today, medical advances give even the tiniest babies a chance of survival—yet for many babies, premature birth is a life or death condition. In fact, it’s the #1 cause of death during the first month of life. And babies who survive face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.

ViaCord and PerkinElmer (ViaCord’s parent company) support the March of Dimes and their efforts to “fight for preemies”. The March of Dimes has organized a social event on November 17th to raise attention to this vital issue and over 300 bloggers have signed up to participate.

Our contribution to the discussion is on the topic of Pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is the most common form of dangerous prenatal complications, occurring in about 8-10% of all pregnancies. The condition can quickly become life-threatening for mother and baby, with delivery as the only treatment option—even if delivery is premature.

PerkinElmer is on the forefront of medical advances that may help diagnosis pre-eclampsia—pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and proteins in the urine that can lead to “eclampsia” or convulsions.

Research is currently underway to develop a diagnostic test for expecting mothers.

PerkinElmer’s test looks for Placenta Protein 13 (PP13)—a recently discovered “bio-marker” for pre-eclampsia. It has been found that when PP13 is in low to extremely low levels in a pregnant women before the mid-way mark of a normal, 40-week pregnancy, the expecting mom will go on to develop preeclampsia. While the PerkinElmer test is still being studied, early results are extremely promising, providing an accurate ability to predict pre-eclampsia.

Recently, Dr. Dan Marshak, Chief Scientific Officer of PerkinElmer, and Dr. Harvey Kilman, physician scientist at Yale University School of Medicine and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Systems, were interviewed as part of the podcast series: The Better Chronicles to discuss pre-eclampsia, its impact on maternal and infant health, and the clinical trial underway for early diagnosis.

There is currently no treatment that cures preeclampsia, but knowing about this condition early can allow doctors to closely monitor the expecting mom, providing care which may help stabilize the condition so that delivery is not required prematurely.

And the hope is that one day every expecting mom will be screened in her first trimester so that we have healthier moms and babies.

Click here to listen. (Please allow time for the PodCast to download)

Or comment on this blog, ask a question about pre-eclampsia and raise your voice in the fight against premature birth.

Visit the March of Dimes to learn more about Premature Birth Awareness Month and visit the Bloggers Unite site to read more about the topic and find out how you can help.

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