A diagnosis of hypertension may be made in 5–8% of all pregnancies. Pre-eclampsia, a disease associated with defective placentation, is arguably the most important cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality associated with a rise in maternal blood pressure. This clinical syndrome has a complex aetiology and pathophysiology, and is possibly the result of an as yet unidentified circulating factor of placental origin that targets the maternal vascular endothelium. The multi-organ dysfunction that develops in pre-eclampsia is a result of this generalised endothelial disruption and is reflected in the clinical presentation with the haematological, renal, hepatic and cerebral systems being principally affected.
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