Plasma colloid osmotic pressure, Briones index and ascites in preeclampsia-eclampsia.

BACKGROUND

Capillary leak in preeclampsia-eclampsia (P-E) can be evaluated by calculating the plasma colloid osmotic pressure (COP) and the Briones index (BI). We undertook this study to report the values of plasma COP and BI in patients with P-E. We compared their correlation with ascites.

METHODS

We studied 225 pregnant patients with P-E. We calculated plasma COP and BI as a total group and in three categories: 1) severe preeclampsia (SP) patients without HELLP syndrome, 2) SP patients with HELLP syndrome and 3) patients with eclampsia. We compared the correlation of both parameters as well as the correlation of each with ascites. Student's t test and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Total COP was 20.14 +/- 2.52 mmHg. In 148 cases (65.78%) the results were normal (21.54 +/- 1.60 mmHg) and in 77 cases (34.22%) results were low (17.55 +/- 1.71 mmHg) (p = 0.058). There was no difference among the three categories (p >0.05). Total BI was 0.18 +/- 0.03, in 87 cases (38.67 %) it was normal (0.22 + 0.01) and in 138 cases (61.33 %) it was low (0.16 +/- 0.01) (p = 0.07). There were no differences among the three categories (p >0.05). We documented ascites of 627.27 +/- 85.21 ml in 11 patients (4.89%). The r of the COP vs. BI was 0.55, COP vs. ascites was -0.03 and BI vs. ascites was -0.43.

CONCLUSIONS

We found low levels of COP in 34.22% and BI in 61.33% of patients. Both parameters had negative correlation with ascites.