Abstract
The human placenta nourishes the growing fetus during pregnancy. The newly developing field of placenta analysis seeks to understand relationships between the health of a placenta and the health of the baby. Previous studies have shown that the median placental chorionic shape at term is round, and deviation from such prototypical shape is related to a decreased placental functional efficiency. In this study, we propose the use of a nearly-continuous shape descriptor termed signed deviation vector to systematically study the relationship between various maternal and fetal characteristics and the shape of the placental surface. The proposed shape descriptor measures the amount of deviation along with the direction of the deviation a placental shape has away from the shape of normality. Using Linear Discriminant Analysis, we can independently examine how much of the placental shape is affected by maternal, newborn, and placental characteristics. The results allow us to understand how significantly various maternal and fetal conditions affect the overall shape of the placenta growth. Though the current study is largely exploratory, the initial findings indicate significant relationships between shape of the placental surface and newborn’s birth weight as well as their gestational age.
Highlights
The human placenta is a fetus’s lifeline during gestation, providing nutrients and antibodies, while eliminating waste products via the mother’s blood supply
Previous studies have shown that the median placental chorionic shape at term is round, and deviation from such prototypical shape is related to a decreased placental functional efficiency
We propose the use of a nearly-continuous shape descriptor termed signed deviation vector to systematically study the relationship between various maternal and fetal characteristics and the shape of the placental surface
Summary
The human placenta is a fetus’s lifeline during gestation, providing nutrients and antibodies, while eliminating waste products via the mother’s blood supply. The placenta is connected to the uterine wall and exchanges nutrients and waste through the placental blood barrier. It connects to the fetus by the umbilical cord containing two arteries and one vein. The cord inserts into the chorionic plate, or fetal side of the placenta, where the vessels branch into a network covered by a thin layer of cells. This vascular network is one area that placenta analysts continue to research. The optimal network would have the base of the umbilical connection in the center where vessels branch evenly and thoroughly in all directions. Previous studies by [1] have found that the average placenta is structured optimally with round placentas having the umbilical cord centrally inserted
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