A giant chorioangioma of the placenta with favorable outcome: a rare case presentation with literature review

Abstract

Chorioangioma, or hemangioma of the placenta, is the most frequent non-trophoblastic tumor of the placenta consisting of blood vessels and stroma. A great proportion of these tumors are small and well delineated within the placental parenchyma and have no or minimal adverse impact on the fetus. Unfortunately, large tumor size is linked to serious complications such as fetal anemia, hydrops and intrauterine death. This is probably because of arteriovenous shunts leading to progressive heart failure of the fetus. With the increasing rates of antenatal screenings with ultrasonography, prenatal diagnosis of these tumors is widely achieved. Here we report a case of giant placental chorioangioma diagnosed in the second trimester of pregnancy. The size of the tumor minimally increased during follow-up and at term, uncomplicated labor was achieved. Macroscopic and histologic examination confirmed the diagnosis.