biology

Placental disease

Placental disease is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Placental disease rather than just read about it. In short: A placental disease is any disease, disorder, or pathology of the placenta. Ischemic placental disease leads to the attachment of the placenta to the uterine wall to become under-perfused, causing uteroplacental ischemia.

Key takeaways

Placental disease belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Placental disease to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Placental disease from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A placental disease is any disease, disorder, or pathology of the placenta. Ischemic placental disease leads to the attachment of the placenta to the uterine wall to become under-perfused, causing uteroplacental ischemia. Where the term overarches the pathology associated with preeclampsia, placental abruptions and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). These factors are known to be the primary pathophysiology cause placental disease. Which is considered to be associated with more than half of premature births. Abnormalities present within the spiral arteries lead to higher velocities in blood, in turn causes the maternal villi to shred. Which trigger pro-coagulator molecules to be released into the blood stream causing action of the coagulator cascade, eventually leading to placental infarction. Risk factors such as diabetes, chronic blood pressure and multiple pregnancies can increase the risk of developing placental disease. Also, exposure to sudden trauma can increase the risk of placental abruption which coincides with placental disease. There is no target treatment available for placental disease. Associative prevention mechanisms can be a method of minimising the risk of developing the disease, within early stages of pregnancy. Placental syndromes include pregnancy loss, fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm delivery, premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption and intrauterine fetal demise.

Signs and symptoms The abnormal spiral arteries lead decreased level of oxygen diffusion through the placental villus, which cause chronic hypoxia. The abnormal trophoblast invasion, lead to overall uteroplacental insufficiencies and uteroplacental underperfusion. It is due to the decreased vascularisation, there are reduced levels of nutrient delivery to the foetus. Also, cases of still births can be associated with placental disease.

Causes Preeclampsia is considered to be linked with Placental Disease, as well as intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and placental abruptions are risk factors that lead to placental disease. Especially when these symptoms are evident at early stages of pregnancy. The abnormal invasion of the trophoblast cells, lack of important growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placental growth factor (PlGF), has an association with the onset of placental disease.

Risk factors Risk factors associated with placental disease are as follows:

Smoking cigarettes and use other forms of drugs such as cocaine. Diabetes mellitus Maternal age less than 20 years or over the age of 35 Multiple pregnancies Chronic high blood pressure Being underweight or obese Also, chronic renal disease, collagen vascular disease, thrombophilia, and cardiovascular disease increase the risk of developing placental disease. Moreover, being exposed to severe trauma within the pregnancy period, rapid acceleration and deceleration and uterine compression increase the risk of placental abruption, in turn leading to placental disease.

Adherence/penetration Abruptio placentae Placenta accreta Placenta increta Placenta percreta

Inflammatory/infectious Placentitis Villitis of unknown etiology TORCH infections

Placental development Circumvallate placenta Placental villous immaturity

Obstruction of os Placenta previa Vasa previa

Vascular Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy Hypertrophic decidual vasculopathy Chorangiosis Chorangioma Placental infarction

Neoplastic Trophoblastic neoplasms derive from trophoblastic tissue. Examples include:

Choriocarcinoma Hydatidiform mole

Mechanism In placental disease, there's abnormalities present within the spiral arties of the uterus, where the terminal part of the spinal arteries does not dilate. This leads to decrease oxygen carried past the maternal villi into the intervillus space. The lack of terminal dilation and inclining blood velocity causes shredding of the villi into the maternal blood, releasing blood coagulants activating the coagulation cascade. Which then leads to blocking of the blood vessels causing placental infarction.

Diagnosis Placental Disease can be diagnosed through technologies such as, Prenatal ultrasound evaluation and invasive foetal testing. The size of the foetus is taken into account through ultrasonography in terms of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). In conjunction with taking into account the maternal history. Suspicions may be confirmed by postpartum examination of the placenta.

Prevention The following factors can be linked with reducing the likelihood of developing placental disease:

Use of aspirin, can reduce the risks associated with preeclampsia Low calcium intake can reduce the risk of preeclampsia Reducing oxidative stress present within the body Intake of prenatal multivitamins

Treatment Treatment of placental disease would require a premature birth, in order to avoid a still birth.

Epidemiology Placental disease is more common in preterm gestation than with full term. Which leads to serious injuries to both the mother and the new-born. Women who endured placental disease within the first pregnancy has an increased risk of the disease progressing within future pregnancies. The onset of the disease within the first trimester leads to preterm delivery of a premature baby. Preeclampsia is diagnosed in 3-5% of pregnancies that place them at risk of developing placental disease. Ischemic placental disease is linked with approximately more than half of premature births.

References

External links

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Placental disease

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Placental disease claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Placental disease before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Placental disease ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Placental disease

In research: Placental disease appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Placental disease in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Placental disease is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Complications of labour and delivery, Placenta, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Placental disease outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Placental disease in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Placental disease means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Placental disease out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Placental disease in simple terms?

Why does Placental disease matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Placental disease?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Placental disease.