Morphometric placental studies in normal pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia with or without intrauterine growth retardation

Ahmed Khairy Makled, Hesham Fathey, Khaled Swedan, Nesreen El Sawy

Abstract


Objective: This study was designed to compare placental morphology in normal pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia with or without IUGR.
Study design: Comparative study.
Participants & Methods: Sixty pregnant women at 32-40 week of gestation were included in this study & classified into 3 groups according to presence or absence of pre-eclampsia and/or IUGR; in the first group (control) 20 normotensive pregnant women were included, in the second group (PET group) 20 women with pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia without IUGR were included and in the third group (PET + IUGR) 20 women with pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia and IUGR were included. After delivery, careful removal of the umbilical cord and the membranes from each placenta, followed by meticulous macroscopic placental examination, then two full depth cores of placental tissue were generated by pathological knife and prepared after staining for examination by the pathologist, who was blind to the clinical data of the patients.
Results: In this study, the fetal and placental weight were significantly low in PET + IUGR group (2242 ± 632 gm & 316 ± 68.1 gm, respectively) compared by controls or PET group, also, the villous diameter and the capillary surface area were significantly low in PET & IUGR group (91.9 ± 2.35 um & 681 ± 24.6 um2, respectively) compared by controls or PET group. The villous surface area was significantly low in PET with or without IUGR (4032 ± 461 um2 versus 4075 ± 861 um2, respectively) compared by controls. The capillary diameter was significantly higher in PET & IUGR group (34.2 ± 3.42 um) compared by controls or PET group.
Conclusion: The villous diameter and the capillary surface area were significantly reduced in pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia with IUGR and the villous surface area was significantly reduced in pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia with or without IUGR.


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