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Although small differences have been observed between normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia in individual studies using non-invasive methods, the consistency in the available data is insufficient to discriminate between normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. The failure to demonstrate the increased sympathetic activity, as observed by direct microneurography, might be due to methodological factors of the non-invasive studies. Alternatively, sympathetic activity to resistance vessels in skeletal muscle may not be a proper reflection of autonomic cardiovascular control in pregnancy. Well-designed longitudinal research could be useful to test these suppositions.

Sympathetic activity was increased in early-onset hypertensive pregnancy. However, this was not affected by management with plasma volume expansion, suggesting that hypovolaemia in preeclampsia is a secondary phenomenon.

Portapres with RTF, developed to equal intra-arterial brachial pressure, compares reasonably well to RRK and overall meets the criteria set by the AAMI. According to the BHS, Portapres receives a B-grading for diastolic BP and a C-grading for systolic BP. As Portapres measures BP and calculates cardiac output continuously and noninvasively, it would appear worthwhile to further evaluate this device in pathological pregnancies.