Diseases of the placenta

Key words: placenta praevia, abruptio placentae, diseases of pregnancy

Placenta praevia

Implantation takes place in the lower half of the uterus in approximately 1 in 500 pregnant patients. The condition is known as placenta praevia when the placenta lies over all or a portion of the internal opening of the cervix. A total placenta praevia is present when the cervical opening is completely covered. When there is a low implantation of the placenta, the latter lies close to but not over any part of the cervical opening.

Recurrent painless bleeding from the vagina without other symptoms after the sixth month of pregnancy is the typical manifestation of placenta praevia. It is caused by disruption of the placenta as the cervix and lower uterine segment are pulled upward. Each bleeding episode tends to become heavier. Without proper treatment, the baby is likely to die and the mother may do so as well. Unremitting watchfulness of the woman with placenta praevia until the fetus has a chance of survival, with preparation for immediate delivery if hemorrhage becomes brisk, a practice accepted in many clinics, has resulted in a decreased infant mortality without an increase in maternal deaths.

Abruptio placentae

Abruptio placentae is separation, during the latter half of pregnancy, of the normally implanted placenta from its attachment to the uterus before birth of the baby. It also is correctly referred to as “premature separation of the normally implanted placenta” and is called “accidental hemorrhage” in Great Britain. It occurs in approximately 1 in 100 pregnancies. The cause is unknown. It is more common in women who have borne several children.

When a small portion of the placenta separates from the uterus, a condition called partial abruptio placentae, blood either collects in a pool between the uterus and the placenta (concealed hemorrhage) or seeps out of the uterus into the vagina (external hemorrhage). When the entire placenta separates from the uterus, there is massive hemorrhage into the uterine cavity and sometimes into the wall of the uterus. Massive hemorrhage is associated with uterine tenderness, abdominal pain, shock, and loss of fetal movement and fetal heart tones. The baby usually dies. If hemorrhage is severe, the mother's life is in danger. Defective blood clotting occurs in at least 35 percent of patients with abruptio placentae. Kidney failure develops in approximately 1 percent of the cases; it is seen most often in those instances in which treatment has been delayed. Blood replacement, the treatment of shock, the administration of fibrinogen if the patient's clotting mechanism is defective, the administration of oxytocics, and early delivery are the basic essentials of the treatment of abruptio placentae. Delivery is usually by cesarean section.

Placental infarction

Infarction is degeneration and death of a tissue and its replacement with scar tissue. Small yellowish-white deposits of fibrin (a fibrous protein), caused by interference with the maternal circulation, occur normally in the placenta as pregnancy progresses. The fetus usually is not affected by infarction of the placenta unless the process is extensive.

Placenta accreta

Placenta accreta is an abnormal adherence of the placenta to the uterine wall. The chorionic villi attach themselves directly to the uterine muscle in areas where the decidua is poorly developed or absent. All or part of the placenta may be affected. As a result of this abnormality of implantation, the placenta does not separate normally at the time of delivery. Attempts to remove it manually by the physician are frequently followed by severe hemorrhage. Removal of the uterus may be required to save the mother's life.

Placental cysts and benign tumours

Placental cysts and benign tumours are relatively rare. Chorionic cysts of small size are disk-shaped, grayish white structures filled with a yellowish fluid and located on the fetal side of the placenta. Decidual cysts are smoothly lined small cavities in the centre of the placenta; they are the result of decidual degeneration and are not true tumours. Angiomas, hemangiomas, fibromas, myxofibromas, and the like are benign growths arising from the placental blood vessels and connective tissue. Solid or semisolid tumours, usually creating small nodular elevations on the fetal side of the placenta, are rarely of clinical significance.

Inflammation of the placenta

Inflammation of the placenta is usually secondary to infection of the membranes. Most often such infections follow the introduction of pus-forming bacteria into the uterus by instrumentation through the vagina; they are the aftermath of prolonged labour or of prolonged rupture of the membranes. If labour is prolonged, bacteria penetrate the fetal side of the placenta, enter the fetal circulation, and often cause death of the infant after delivery.

The placenta may become infected from organisms in the maternal blood. Maternal syphilis, toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis, and malaria may affect the placenta. The viruses of chickenpox and smallpox may cause placental lesions. A number of pathogenic bacteria and viruses cross the placenta and sometimes kill the fetus without causing any specific changes that have been noted in the placenta.

Placental anomalies

Abnormalities in the structure of the placenta are relatively common. It may be partially divided into two or more lobes; there may be extra lobes; or the placenta may be divided into two or more separate structures. Abnormal placentas result from shallow and from deep implantation. The former type, called placenta circumvallata, is associated with several maternal and fetal complications; the latter type, called placenta membranacea, may cause problems at delivery—e.g., bleeding, failure of the membrane to separate.

Anomalies of the umbilical cord

“False knots,” which are simply enlarged blood vessels in the cord, are not significant. Actual knots in the cord may become tightened and kill the fetus by cutting off the blood to it. Twisting of the cord also may kill the fetus in the same manner. Spontaneous rupture of the cord interferes with the fetal blood supply and causes fetal death. Extreme shortness of the umbilical cord may interfere with delivery, cause premature separation of the placenta, or tear and cause fetal death from hemorrhage. Another abnormality, called velamentous insertion of the cord, in which multiple blood vessels spread out over the membranes and cervix rather than forming one single cord, is dangerous for the baby because the vessels may tear or be compressed during labour and delivery.