Placental pathology in intrauterine growth retardation

Abstract

Several histopathological features are found more frequently in placentas from pregnancies complicated by foetal growth restriction (FGR), including villous infarction, maternal vascular changes and villous morphological alterations, although around one quarter of placentas associated with FGR lack any morphological abnormality on routine examination. So, our aim is to study various morphometric and morphological changes in placentae of small for gestational age babies. The correlation of various maternal parameters like height, age and parity with the foetal weight, placental weight, foeto-placental ratio (F/P) and placental coefficient (PC) and lastly to know whether each diseases process has any specific change in placentae.A prospective randomised control study was conducted from August 2016 to August 2018 in the Department of obstetrics and gynaecology JSS Hospital Mysore Karnataka. The total number of deliveries during this period were 3430. Out of which 397 babies were diagnosed of having Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) Total number of 150 cases were studied out of which 100 placenta were from IUGR group (study group) and the remaining 50 placenta from healthy full term pregnancies(Control group). The incidence of IUGR in our study was 11.6%. The commonest maternal cause for IUGR was anaemia 43%, followed by 18 % cases of preeclampsia and in 37% cases cause was Idiopathic. Maternal characters such as age, parity, and height were studied in relation to foetal outcome. An increase in the birth weight and placental weight was found with an increase in maternal age, height as well as parity. The mean placental weight in IUGR group was 484 grams while in control group was 520 grams. The average surface area in placentae in study group was 200.96 sq.cms. While in control group was 254 sqcms.