Placental microcirculation of intrauterine growth retarded fetuses: scanning electron microscopy of placental vascular casts

The aim of this study is to investigate the ultra structural difference of placentas in IUGR fetuses that were all found to have abnormal umbilical artery Doppler waveforms. Nine placentas from 7 IUGR fetuses and 2 from healthy normal fetuses were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. All of the placentas of IUGR fetuses who had abnormal umbilical artery Doppler flow antenatally were found to have a prominent increase in the amount of total blood vessels; these aberrant blood vessels had a very tortuous course and they showed increased branching when compared with placentas from uncomplicated term pregnancies. Our study showed that there is a clear difference in vascular ultra structure of the placentas of pregnancies with fetal growth restriction selected by abnormal umbilical artery Doppler flow test. IUGR seems to be a problem due to placental vascular insufficiency.