First Trimester Detection of Placental Disease: Challenges and Opportunities

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2016

Publication Title

American journal of perinatology

Abstract

It is generally agreed that placental pathology accounts for the majority of perinatal morbidity and mortality. If a placental prodrome could be diagnosed in vivo, risk for maternal or fetal complications could be estimated and acted upon before clinical symptoms are apparent. This is especially relevant in early diagnoses of gestational diabetes mellitus, which can be controlled through carefully monitored diet and activity changes. To meet this important need, there have been increased efforts to identify early gestation biomarkers of placental dysfunction using innovative imaging technologies. Here we outline innovative quantitative markers of placental shape and their relationship to placental function, clinical implications of these quantifiers, and the most recent mathematical models that utilize placental images to delineate at risk from normal pregnancies. We propose that novel contexts of readily available placental measures and routine collection of in vivo placental images in all pregnancies may be all that are needed to advance the identification of early risk determination of complicated pregnancies from placental images.

Medical Subject Headings

Female; Humans; Models, Biological; Placenta Diseases; Placental Function Tests; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimester, First; Ultrasonography, Doppler

PubMed ID

27490774

Volume

33

Issue

13

First Page

1306

Last Page

1312

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