Eclampsia
What is Eclampsia?
Eclampsia is a Greek word meaning ‘bolt from the blue’. It describes one or more convulsions occurring during or immediately after pregnancy as a complication of pre-eclampsia. Eclampsia has been recognised since ancient times, but it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth Century that doctors began to realize that the fits were normally preceded by a collection of circulatory disturbances now known as pre-eclampsia. Confusingly, however, very few cases of pre-eclampsia culminate in eclampsia, while eclampsia can sometimes precede pre-eclampsia.
Because eclampsia is so rare its recurrence rate is not known. About one sufferer in 20 will get pre-eclampsia in the next pregnancy, with the individual risk higher for those who suffered eclampsia relatively early in the pregnancy and lower for those who had a fit at or near term. Other than this, there is no way of predicting who is most likely to suffer a recurrence and no specific means of prevention, although treatment with low-dose aspirin may be recommended in cases where the problem arose before 32 weeks. For optimum safety, any woman who has suffered eclampsia in one pregnancy should be considered ‘at-risk’ in the next pregnancy. Former sufferers may like to consider preconception counselling with an expert to devise an appropriate antenatal care programme for the next pregnancy.