The HELLP Syndrome Society, Inc took a big step with the medical community at large by attending the 14^th world congress of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.  The HELLP Syndrome Society, along with the Preeclampsia Foundation (from Seattle, Washington) and their British counterpart APEC - Action Against Preeclampsia, conducted a session for doctors.

During the session, each of us presented information about our group, how we got started, and what our mission is.  The HELLP Syndrome Society presented the results of our survey which was completed with the assistance of Dr Thelma Patrick of the University of Pittsburgh.

The session gave each organization an opportunity to speak with the doctors on behalf of their members.  We talked about our members' hopes, fears, questions, and concerns.  A common theme from all the groups was the importance of talking to patients early in their pregnancies about HELLP and Preeclampsia to better familiarize themselves with the symptoms.  This is critical to early diagnosis, and intervention will improve the outcome for both mother and child.  We talked a lot about whether patients would be afraid if they knew.  Our experience from talking to a lot of women who have had the condition is that they would have preferred to know.  We also agreed that cancer and heart disease are scary conditions but we still tell people in the effort to save lives.

We also spent time talking about misdiagnosis.  Patient treatment was discussed in great length as was the mom's physical, emotional, and psychological well being after suffering through HELLP and Preeclampsia.  After the session we spoke with several doctors including Dr. Jim Zhang from the National Institute of Health, Washington DC, who was very interested in our survey and requested a copy of the results.