The effect of plasma retransfusion on the blood pressure in the puerperium.

Whole blood was collected from five patients with severe pre-eclampsia, three with mild pre-eclampsia, and three with normal uneventful pregnancies. The red cells were separated and replaced. The plasma was stored until after the patients were delivered and on the sixth postpartum day they were autotransfused with plasma. This caused a rise in blood pressure in the patients with pre-eclampsia but an aliquot which was stored for six weeks and then retransfused into these patients did not cause any change in blood pressure. No blood pressure changes were found in the normal control subjects at six days or six weeks post partum. It is postulated that patients with pre-eclampsia develop altered vascular sensitivity to normal amounts of circulating pressor substance and that his sensitivity lasts for a week after delivery but not as long as six weeks.