Pre-eclampsia: Risk factors and causal models
Pre-eclampsia is a disease of many risk factors and theoretical speculations. It is, for unknown reasons, more prevalent among primiparous women. Some observations show that a change of sexual partner…
Placental bed disorders in preterm labor, preterm PROM, spontaneous abortion and abruptio placentae
Failure of physiologic transformation of the spiral arteries has been studied using placental bed biopsies in several obstetrical syndromes. Contrary to what was originally believed, this lesion is not restricted…
Defective deep placentation
Defective deep placentation is characterised by defective remodelling of the utero-placental arteries. Under certain conditions, it is also characterised by the presence of arterial lesions, such as acute atherosis and…
Oxidative stress
Considerable evidence implicates oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of many complications of human pregnancy, and this topic has now become a major focus of both clinical and basic science research….
Deep placentation
Deep placentation in human pregnancy is realised by deep invasion of the placental bed by the extravillous trophoblast, involving the decidua and the inner (junctional zone) myometrium. Interstitial invasion of…
Decidualisation and angiogenesis
The timing of decidualisation and vascular processes during the implantation period is of paramount importance for the development of a receptive endometrium suitable for implantation. The endometrium transforms during the secretory…
Evolution of invasive placentation with special reference to non-human primates
It is now possible to view human placentation in an evolutionary context because advances in molecular phylogenetics provide a reliable scenario for the evolution of mammals. Perhaps the most striking…
Hypertensive disease in pregnancy: Multiple choice questions for Vol. 25, No. 4
1. Which of the following is/are risk factor(s) for pre-eclampsia? a) Smoking in early pregnancy. b) Smoking in late pregnancy. c) A previous pregnancy loss. d) Prolonged pre-pregnancy co-habitation. e)…
Placental bed & maternal–fetal disorders: Answers to multiple choice questions for Vol. 25, No. 3
1. (a) T (b) T (c) T (d) F (e) T By contrast to the situation in normal ongoing pregnancies, in cases of miscarriage, onset of the maternal intraplacental circulation…
Postpartum evaluation and long term implications
Hypertension, proteinuria and biochemical changes caused by pre-eclampsia may persist for several weeks and even months postpartum. Hypertension and pre-eclampsia may even develop for the first time postpartum. Care in…
