Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses

Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy, potentially lethal for women and offspring. Affected women have an augmented risk of later cardiovascular disease and premature death and may have risk factors in common with older persons developing cardiovascular disease. In some cases of preecl...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Staff, A, Dechend, R, Redman, C
Format: Journal article
Published: 2013
_version_ 1797082659091906560
author Staff, A
Dechend, R
Redman, C
author_facet Staff, A
Dechend, R
Redman, C
author_sort Staff, A
collection OXFORD
description Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy, potentially lethal for women and offspring. Affected women have an augmented risk of later cardiovascular disease and premature death and may have risk factors in common with older persons developing cardiovascular disease. In some cases of preeclampsia, lipid-filled foam cells accumulate in the walls of the spiral arteries of the uteroplacental circulation (acute atherosis). These lesions resemble the early stages of atherosclerosis and are thought to regress after delivery. The mechanisms that contribute to acute atherosis are largely unknown, but are related to defective vascular remodeling of the spiral arteries in the first half of pregnancy. Spiral artery lipid deposition may also occur in normal pregnancies, which suggests that it may not be confined exclusively to maladapted spiral arteries or caused by hypertension. Our first hypothesis is that there are several pathways to the development of acute atherosis, which converge at the point of excessive decidual inflammation in the final common pathway. Our second hypothesis is that acute atherosis, evolving during the short time of pregnancy, identifies a subset of women at augmented risk for atherosclerosis and later chronic arterial disease better than the diagnosis of preeclampsia itself. If confirmed, this may enable better preventive management for the affected women.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T01:30:53Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:938eca35-dabf-40ad-80f2-f1022a6a0885
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-07T01:30:53Z
publishDate 2013
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:938eca35-dabf-40ad-80f2-f1022a6a08852022-03-26T23:33:05ZReview: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypothesesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:938eca35-dabf-40ad-80f2-f1022a6a0885Symplectic Elements at Oxford2013Staff, ADechend, RRedman, CPreeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy, potentially lethal for women and offspring. Affected women have an augmented risk of later cardiovascular disease and premature death and may have risk factors in common with older persons developing cardiovascular disease. In some cases of preeclampsia, lipid-filled foam cells accumulate in the walls of the spiral arteries of the uteroplacental circulation (acute atherosis). These lesions resemble the early stages of atherosclerosis and are thought to regress after delivery. The mechanisms that contribute to acute atherosis are largely unknown, but are related to defective vascular remodeling of the spiral arteries in the first half of pregnancy. Spiral artery lipid deposition may also occur in normal pregnancies, which suggests that it may not be confined exclusively to maladapted spiral arteries or caused by hypertension. Our first hypothesis is that there are several pathways to the development of acute atherosis, which converge at the point of excessive decidual inflammation in the final common pathway. Our second hypothesis is that acute atherosis, evolving during the short time of pregnancy, identifies a subset of women at augmented risk for atherosclerosis and later chronic arterial disease better than the diagnosis of preeclampsia itself. If confirmed, this may enable better preventive management for the affected women.
spellingShingle Staff, A
Dechend, R
Redman, C
Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title_full Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title_fullStr Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title_full_unstemmed Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title_short Review: Preeclampsia, acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease: Two new hypotheses
title_sort review preeclampsia acute atherosis of the spiral arteries and future cardiovascular disease two new hypotheses
work_keys_str_mv AT staffa reviewpreeclampsiaacuteatherosisofthespiralarteriesandfuturecardiovasculardiseasetwonewhypotheses
AT dechendr reviewpreeclampsiaacuteatherosisofthespiralarteriesandfuturecardiovasculardiseasetwonewhypotheses
AT redmanc reviewpreeclampsiaacuteatherosisofthespiralarteriesandfuturecardiovasculardiseasetwonewhypotheses