Second‐trimester measurements of placental volume by three‐dimensional ultrasound to predict small‐for‐gestational‐age infants

Abstract

Three-dimensional sonographic measurement of the placental volume alone is not a satisfactory technique for predicting SGA infants.

Placental Volumetry by 2-D Sonography with a New Mathematical Formula: Prospective Study on the Shell of a Spherical Sector Model

“…Moreover, our method was only verified by comparing 2-D to 3-D estimated volumetry datasets. Ultrasound estimations tend to have an inaccuracy of ±10-20%.The estimated placental volumes based on our model correlated significantly to the actual estimated fetal weight which corresponds to the studies stating strong correlation between placental and fetal weight both in the first and second trimester and at the delivery as well (Thame et al 2001;Derwig et al 2011;Hafner et al 1998;Almog et al 2011). …”

“…Salafia et al (2006) suggested that large placenta relative to the fetal weight might represent placental insufficiency with reduced ability to maintain fetal growth. Thus, sonographic estimation of the placental growth in addition to the fetal growth is an important perinatal predictive indicator (Gassner et al 2003;Hafner et al 1998;Odibo et al 2011;Salafia et al 2006;Thame et al 2001;Thame et al 2004) and might be an adjunct modality of uteroplacental flow (Rotmensch et al 1994). These facts underline the necessity of routine placental volumetry in everyday practice.…”

“…One of the limitations of the method is that the sector of the ultrasound probes is 45-70º, which limits the measurable placental length and this enables studying the growth of placenta dominantly until the beginning of third trimester (Hafner et al 1998). This is in conformity with the fact that the lateral growth of the chorionic disc is to a great extent completed by 30 to 32 weeks of gestation (Craven et al 2000).…”

“…Importantly, an increasing amount of evidence demonstrates that the neonatal birthweight can be predicted significantly by placental volumetry during early to midpregnancy (Derwig et al 2013) using three dimensional (3-D) sonography (Collins et al 2013;Gassner et al 2003;Metzenbauer et al 2002;Odibo et al 2011;Plasencia et al 2011;Plasencia et al 2012;Rizzo et al 2012). Placental volume deviation might predict chromosomal abnormalities (Gassner et al 2003;Metzenbauer et al 2002), growth retardation (Collins et al 2013;Hafner et al 1998;Hafner et al 2006), late-onset pre-eclampsia (Hafner et al 2006) and other complications during pregnancy (Collins et al 2013;Hafner et al 2006;Odibo et al 2011;Plasencia et al 2011, Plasencia et al 2012Rizzo et al 2012;Salafia et al 2006). …”

Reproducibility of Placental Volume and Vasculature Indices Obtained by 3-Dimensional Power Doppler Sonography

“…With improved 3-dimensional (3D) sonographic technology, it is now possible to evaluate the placental volume as well as vascularization status using power Doppler sonography. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The Doppler parameters derived from 3D interrogation are different from those using conventional sonography and include the vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization-flow index (VFI). [2][3][4] These indices have been reliably measured in the placenta and other gynecologic organs.…”