Abstract

Introduction: Pre-eclampsia is one of the major obstetric problem affects 5-8% of all pregnancies leading to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Fetal outcome is badly affected by pathological changes developing in placenta. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the department of Anatomy with Pathology, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka. A total of 32 freshly delivered placentae (24 from pre-eclamptic pregnancy and 8 from normal pregnancy) were collected from the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department of Yenepoya Medical College Hospital, Mangalore. Morphologic and morphometric parameters of placentae were noted and their means were calculated. Results: The morphologic parameters of the placenta were showed significant difference in two groups (p=0.018). Fetal birth weight was lower in pre-eclamptic group and 33% of babies of pre-eclamptic mothers developed IUGR. The incidence of pre-eclamptic patients underwent caesarean section was 71% and 16% of pre-eclamptic mothers developed eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. Discussion: Pre-eclampsia is associated with significant changes in placental morphology due to decreased uteroplacental blood flow. Prematurity, growth restriction and low birth weight are fetal complications expected to be linked with pre-eclampsia. Placental weight had relevant connection with the fetal birth weight. Hence, the knowledge of this will be extremely useful in the early diagnosis of placental insufficiency and to plan a safe pregnancy with healthy fetal outcome.

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