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Objective: To examine the relationship between umbilical cord insertion site, placental pathology and adverse pregnancy outcome in a cohort of normal and complicated pregnancies., Methods: Sonographic measurement of the cord insertion and detailed placental pathology were performed in 309 participants. Associations between cord insertion site, placental pathology and adverse pregnancy outcome (pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, small-for-gestational age) were examined., Results: A total of 93 (30%) participants were identified by pathological examination to have a peripheral cord insertion site. Only 41 of the 93 (44%) peripheral cords were detected by prenatal ultrasound. Peripherally inserted cords were associated significantly (P < 0.0001) with diagnostic placental pathology (most commonly with maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM)); of which 85% had an adverse pregnancy outcome. In cases of isolated peripheral cords, without placental pathology, the incidence of adverse outcome was not statistically different when compared to those with central cord insertion and no placental pathology (31% vs 18%; P = 0.3). A peripheral cord with an abnormal umbilical artery (UA) pulsatility index (PI) corresponded to an adverse outcome in 96% of cases compared to 29% when the UA-PI was normal., Conclusions: This study demonstrates that peripheral cord insertion is often part of the spectrum of findings of MVM disease and is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. However, adverse outcome was uncommon when there was an isolated peripheral cord insertion and no placental pathology. Therefore, additional sonographic and biochemical features of MVM should be sought when a peripheral cord is observed. © 2023 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology., (© 2023 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.)

Background: The umbilical artery (UA) Doppler pulsatility index is used clinically to detect elevated feto-placental vascular resistance. However, this metric is confounded by variation in fetal cardiac function and is only moderately predictive of placental pathology. Our group developed a novel ultrasound methodology that measures wave reflections in the UA, thereby isolating a component of the Doppler signal that is specific to the placenta. The present study examined whether wave reflections in the UA are predictive of placental vascular pathology., Methods: Standard clinical Doppler ultrasound of the UAs was performed in 241 pregnant women. Of these, 40 women met narrowly defined preset criteria for the control group, 36 had maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) and 16 had fetal vascular malperfusion (FVM). Using a computational procedure, the Doppler waveforms were decomposed into a pair of forward and backward propagating waves., Findings: Compared to controls, wave reflections were significantly elevated in women with either MVM (p<0.0001) or FVM pathology (p = 0.02). In contrast, the umbilical and uterine artery pulsatility indices were only elevated in the MVM group (p<0.0001) and there were no differences between women with FVM and the controls., Interpretation: The measurement of wave reflections in the UA, combined with standard clinical ultrasound parameters, has the potential to improve the diagnostic performance of UA Doppler to detect placental vascular pathology. Identifying women with FVM pathology is particularly challenging prenatally and future investigations will determine if women at risk of this specific placental disease could benefit from this novel diagnostic technique., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To determine the most reproducible method for the sonographic measurement of placental length., Methods: A prospective study of women with singleton pregnancies who underwent sonographic measurement of placental dimensions during mid-gestation. Two sonographers independently determined placental length using three different approaches (linear, curve-linear and panoramic) and placental thickness. Reproducibility was assessed by the Bland-Altman method and Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC)., Results: Overall 34 women were included in the study. The curve-linear approach for the measurement of placental length was associated with the highest reproducibility (mean inter-observer difference of -0.10 cm) compared to the linear and panoramic approaches (mean difference -0.15 cm and -0.29 cm, respectively). Similarly, the ICC was highest for the curve-linear length approach (0.974) compared with the linear length and panoramic length approaches (0.956 and 0.926, respectively). Measurements of maximum placental thickness was also associated with a very good ICC (0.954)., Conclusions: The curve-linear method for the measurement of placental length in the 2nd trimester appears to be the most reproducible approach. This technique may prove useful as an adjunct screening method, along with uterine artery Doppler and maximum placental thickness, to screen for major placental complications of pregnancy in the second trimester.

Objective: To determine the utility of measuring maximum placental length in the second trimester to predict a small for gestational age placenta by weight at delivery in clinically high-risk women., Study Design: Placental dimensions determined by 2-dimensional (2-D) real-time ultrasound at 19-23 weeks' gestation were compared to post-natal placental weights and pathology in 95 high-risk patients with singleton pregnancies., Results: Maximum placental length <10.0 cm performed poorly (false positive rate 25.5%) for the detection of a small placenta by weight at delivery. Placental pathology examination revealed eccentric cord insertion to be an important explanation for poor screening test result, since this finding was significantly more common in the false negative group (length ≥ 10.0 cm, weight <10th percentile) compared with the true negative group (length ≥ 10.0 cm, weight ≥ 10 th percentile) (15/28 vs. 9/38, Fisher's exact test, p = 0.005)., Conclusions: Prediction of reduced placental weight by 2-D ultrasound determination of maximum placental length in clinically high-risk pregnancies confounded by the phenomenon of asymmetric chorion regression. Refinement of 2-D ultrasound methods to include orthogonal plane measurements, or replacement by 3-D techniques is predicted to significantly improve the effectiveness of diagnosing small placentas in-utero., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)