Pathology of Pregnancy Flashcards
What structures are included in the placenta?
Placental disc, unbilical cord, extraplacental membranes
What are the two surfaces of the placenta?
- Fetal side: covered by amnion and chorion
- Maternal surface: The decidua
What is the decidua?
Border betwixt the fetal tissue and the uterus
What is the villus?
Placenta’s functional unit of exchange
What are the inner, middle, and outer layer of the villus?
- Inner: Cytotrophoblast (Langhans cells)
- Middle: Intermediate Trophoblast
- Syncytiotrophoblast
What are Hofbauer cells?
Embryonal macrophages
What is the major secretion of the trophoblasts?
hCG
What is the fetal-placental weight ratio?
1 g placenta can oxygenate 7 grams of fetal tissue
What is the name of the condition when the placenta implants at the lower portion of the uterus and covers the internal os?
Placenta previa
What is ectopic pregnancy?
Placenta implants outside the uterine cavity
What is the term for an umbilical cord that inserts at the margin of the placental disk?
Marginal insertion
What is a velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord?
Umbilical insertion into the membranes
What is a life-threatening complication of velamentous insertion?
Vasa previa: Membranous blood vessels of the cord cover the cervical os. These vessels are easily ruptured and can cause life-threatening hemorrhage
Acute chorioamnionitis. What is this condition characterized by?
Neutrophils in the amnion and chorion
What is the order of inflammatory responses betwixt the mother and fetus?
Maternal inflammatory response occurs first, and if the infection persists the fetal inflammatory response will occur
Describe the inflammatory processes in the fetal inflammatory response to chorioamnionitis.
- Acute funisitis - neutrophil migration into muscular walls of the umbilical vessels
- Acute chorionic vasculitis - neutrophil migration into the large fetal vessels at the placental surface
What are the major risks of chorioamnionitis to the mother and infant?
- Mother: Postpartum endometriosis and pelvic sepsis w/ venous thrombosis
- Fetus: Neuro disease, stillbirth, neonatal sepsis and death
By what mechanism does villitis typically arise?
Results from transplacental passage of organisms usually from the maternal circulation (hematogenously)
Acute villitis. What is the most important consequence of acute villitis?
Establishment of an inflammatory focus that infects the fetus secondarily
What is villitis of unknown etiology?
Cause of chronic placental infsufficiency in which no infectious agent is found
What is the cause of fetal thrombotic vasculopathy?
Clotting in placental vessels
Avascular villi. What was the cause of this condition?
Villous capillaries have been replaced by fibrous tissue as a result of a chronic thrombus in a larger upstream stem villus
What is a “cushion defect”?
If a large chorionic vessel is thrombosed, thrombus can attach to and later be incorporated into the vessel wall
What is abruptio placentae?
Placental lining has separated from the uterus
What can abruptio placentae cause?
Retroplacental Hematoma
What is the outcome of retroplacental hematoma?
Depends on the size of hematoma
What does rupture of a chorionic villous blood vessel result in?
Causes blood to accumulate in the placenta and to form an intervillous thrombus/hematoma
What is placenta accreta? What is it caused by?
Abnormal adherence of the placenta to the uterus; Caused by failure to form decidua.
In this image, the chorionic villi are in contact with the underlying muscle
Placenta accreta is classified based on the depth of invasion of the villi into the myometrium. What are the 3 classifications?
- Placenta accreta: attachment of villi to the surface of the uterine wall w/o further invasion
- Placenta increta: Villi invading the underlying myometrium
- Placenta percreta: Villi penetrating the full thickness of the uterine wall
What is the most common presenting sign of a patient with placenta accreta?
Third trimester bleeding
What is a possible major consequence of placenta accreta?
Post-partum hemorrhage
What is chronic uteroplacental malperfusion an important cause of?
Perinatal morbidity and mortality
What causes villous hypoplasia?
Decreased maternal bloodflow to the placenta especially due to disease of the spiral arterioles