Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are serious conditions unique to pregnancy and resulting in 40,000-80,000 deaths worldwide each year. In resource-poor settings, treating pre-eclampsia/ eclampsia presents many challenges. Magnesium sulfate, an inexpensive drug, is an effective treatment but has limited availability in the developing world and is potentially harmful to the pre-eclamptic woman and her fetus if its administration is not carefully monitored. For this reason, additional research is needed on new approaches for use of this technology where clinical and human resources are limited.
In collaboration with colleagues in three clinical centers in India, Gynuity is conducting a pilot study that examines the introduction of a different treatment approach for the provision of magnesium sulfate. The overarching goal of this project is to demonstrate the safety of a simple, inexpensive flow controlled pump, SpringFusor. It is hypothesized that the SpringFusor pump may offer a treatment approach that is superior to the current standard of care in terms of accurate delivery of treatment, ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and demands on staff time. A safe and simple system for the IV administration of magnesium sulfate will permit the expansion of its use in pregnant women and into clinical environments where resources do not currently exist to treat with magnesium sulfate prior to delivery or to transfer for more intensive care.