Frequency of placental infarcts in patients with severe placental abruption.

Abstract

Introduction: Peripheral infarcts on maternal side are relatively common and are not thought to be clinically sig­nificant. However those that occupy more than 5% of the placental mass or are more than 3cm in di­ameter in size are associated with perinatal mortality and morbidity. Objectives: To determine the frequency of placental infracts and its different severity grades among women with severe placental abruption. Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar. Period: January 2016 to July 2016. Material and Methods: Patients admitted in hypovolemic shock or intrauterine fetal death was considered as severe abruption. Placenta of the subject was collected from labour room of the wards and was fixed in 10% formalin. Gross examination of placenta performed and then the section of placenta was stained with hematoxylin & eosin stain. The consultant pathologist reviewed the slides. All the data was recorded on predesigned Performa and analyzed through SPSS version 11.0. Results: Among 124 cases, majority of women (41.93%) were in the age group 30-40 years and presented at gestation age more than 37 weeks. 21.77% of patients were having placental infarcts of less than 3 cm and 18.54% of cases were having placental infarcts of more than 3 cm. 79.03% of babies born alive, 41.12% were preterm and stillbirth was a finding in 20.96% of cases. Overall frequency of placenta infarcts in patients was 40.32%. Conclusion: Placental infarcts were seen in about 40.32% placentae of women with placental abruption. Association between placental infarcts and preterm babies and stillbirths was also significant.