Brain malformations significantly associated with preterm birth, Wake Forest rese...(a the formation of multiple cystic cavit...)

"There are a lot of preterm births where there are no apparent causes," Brown said. "I speculate that brain defects or other defects not easily detected could be causing some of them and perhaps we should focus on studying coagulopathy (a tendency to excessive blood coagulation and formation of blood clots) to find what the association is between that and preterm birth.

"The placenta could be a key element," he added. "In placental conditions such as preclampsia, which is strongly associated with preterm birth, there may be blood clots coming from the placenta, causing brain damage and malformations in the brain and then, perhaps, the malformed fetus induces its own preterm birth or perhaps the coagulopathy causes the preterm birth through some other mechanism. The next step is to look at the brain malformations that have the strongest association with preterm birth and see if it's possible to identify the factors associated with those malformations that may be causing preterm birth. These are possible new directions to explore."

Meanwhile, Brown endorses the use of folic acid before and during pregnancy.

"It's not completely known how it works, but it could be impacting coagulopathy because folic acid is involved with the pathways that are also involved with coagulation," he said.

'/>"/>