The Clinical Application of Ultrasonic Placentography

Abstract

AND SummaryIn a busy hospital an attempt was made to locate the placenta by ultrasound in 437 patients suspected of having a placenta praevia. There were three failures to locate the placenta and two dangerous false negative results. Caesarean section was performed in 126 patients of whom 76 had placenta praevia. The placental site was located by ultrasound in 124 patients delivered abdominally and in 98.4 per cent of them a safe diagnosis was obtained (82.2 per cent of diagnoses were anatomically correct, 8 1 per cent overstated or understated the extent of placenta praevia and 8 * 1 per cent were falsely positive). A correlation was found between the frequency of diagnostic problems and gestational age. Ultrasound provided a safe and reliable method of excluding placenta praevia except in the presence of multiple pregnancy.

131I Isotope Placentography: Simple Counting Equipment in Obstetric Practice

“…However, the invasive nature of this procedure and the radiation hazards for the fetus and mother make it a less than ideal method. Although there has been some debate about the possible superiority of isotope placentography over placental ultrasonography (3,12), there is now abundant and convincing evidence that ultrasonography gives more accurate results (2,6,(9)(10)(11)13). Moreover, ultrasonography would appear so far to be free of any significant hazards (1,4,5,7).…”