Cardiovascular profiling of women at risk for the development of gestational hypertensive disorders: an opportunity for patient-tailored management

Abstract

Although gestational hypertensive disorders (GHD) cover a range of distinct pathophysiological phenotypes, their clinical care and corresponding treatment modalities are alike and focus on maternal and fetal monitoring. GHD have proven to belong to the group of cardiovascular disorders. Still, no routine cardiovascular assessment, apart from sphygmomanometric blood pressure measurement, is part of their current management in perinatal care. Maternal hemodynamics assessment gathers information on important parameters of the maternal cardiovascular function and allows for discriminating between different pathophysiological phenotypes of GHD. This doctoral dissertation aimed to gain new insights into the underlying hemodynamic pathophysiological mechanisms of the different GHD phenotypes (Part I) and aimed to explore preventive and phenotype-specific therapeutic interventions (Part II) to allow for optimization of patient-tailored management instead of the “one size fits all” principle.