Labcorp, a global leader of innovative and comprehensive laboratory services, has announced the launch and availability of a new, US FDA-cleared blood test for risk assessment and clinical management of severe preeclampsia, a life-threatening blood pressure disorder that occurs during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Preeclampsia is a condition unique to pregnancy that affects 2-5% of all pregnancies and is a major cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the United States. Standard approaches for clinical diagnosis of preeclampsia, such as blood pressure and proteinuria evaluation, have been shown to be inadequate predictors of severe adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes.

The new test, developed by Thermo Fisher Scientific and named one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of 2023, measures two angiogenic biomarkers associated with preeclampsia, serum soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF).

The test result, a ratio of these two biomarkers, in conjunction with other laboratory tests and clinical assessments, helps clinicians identify which patients hospitalized for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy may be at risk of progressing to severe features of preeclampsia within the next two weeks of the test.