Ultrasound elastography can detect placental tissue abnormalities
Artikel-Kategorie: Research Article
Online veröffentlicht: 06. Juni 2018
Seitenbereich: 129 - 135
Eingereicht: 20. Nov. 2017
Akzeptiert: 23. Apr. 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2018-0024
Schlüsselwörter
© 2018 Tomoya Hasegawa, Naoaki Kuji, Fumiaki Notake, Tetsu Tsukamoto, Toru Sasaki, Motohiro Shimizu, Kazunori Mukaida, Hiroe Ito, Keiichi Isaka, Hirotaka Nishi, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Background
In this prospective cohort study, we examined the utility of elastography to evaluate the fetus and placenta.
Patients and methods
Pregnant women in their third trimester of pregnancy, by which time the placenta has formed, were included in this study. A total of 111 women underwent ultrasound examinations, including elastography. Elastographic evaluation was performed using two protocols. First, the placental index (PI) was measured, which quantitatively assesses the hardness of tissue. Second, regions of interest (ROI) were categorized into 3-step scores according to the frequency of the blue area (hardness of placental tissue score [HT score]), which is a qualitative method. After delivery, 40 of the 111 placentas were pathologically examined.
Results
The average PI was 44.3 (± 29.4) in the
Conclusions
Placental hardness, as determined by elastography, correlates with both lower estimated fetal body weight and birth weight. These results suggest that ultrasound elastography in the placenta may be an additional marker of intrauterine fetal well-being.