[Placental location and incidence of pre-eclampsia].

AIM

In pregnancies with unilateral placental location, the uteroplacental Doppler flow measurements show significant side-to-side differences. Highly divergent findings seem to be associated with an unfavourable outcome, particularly with preeclampsia. Therefore, we studied the relationship between placental location and subsequent development of preeclampsia prospectively.

METHOD

184 patients between 24 and 36 weeks of gestation were studied prospectively. Placental location was classified as central or lateral by ultrasound. Preeclampsia was defined by blood pressure > or = 140/90 mmHg and proteinuria > or = 500 mg/24 h.

RESULTS

After consideration of exclusion criteria, 148 pregnancies could be evaluated: 115 had a laterally and 33 a centrally located placenta. The incidence of preeclampsia in these groups was 32/115 (28%) and 3/33 (9%) respectively.

CONCLUSION

These data suggest that a laterally located placenta is associated with a significantly increased incidence of preeclampsia, with a risk ratio of 3.1 when compared to pregnancies with centrally located placentas.