Placental Endocan Expression in Woman With Preeclampsia and its Relation With Maternal and Fetal Outcomes: A Cross-section Study

This study aimed to determine placental endocan expression in women with preeclampsia (PE) and its relation to fetal and maternal outcomes.

This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Obstetrics Department/Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital from January 2020 to October 2020. The study included 90 pregnant inpatient women with PE. The participants were divided into 3 groups including 30 patients with severe PE, 30 non-severe PE, and 30 normotensives. After delivery, placental endocan expression was determined immunohistochemically.

The study showed that endocan was expressed in 44 patients’ placenta, all of them were hypertensive vs. 46 negatives for endocan (P=0.001), this expression correlated with adverse maternal outcomes including HELLP (haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets count) syndrome (9.1%), Placental abruption (13.6%) and increase rate of CS (63.6%), as well as adverse fetal outcomes (P=0.001). included stillbirth (13.6%), birth weight <2500 g (68.2%), Apgar score in 1 min <7 (63.6%) and in 5 minutes <7 (31.8), admission to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (31.8%), and (68.2%) delivered preterm.

This study showed a higher expression of endocan in the placenta of women with PE, and it had a positive correlation with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes.