Perinatal outcome of pregnancies complicated by placental chorioangioma: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To report the perinatal outcome of singleton pregnancies complicated by placental chorioangioma diagnosed on prenatal ultrasound. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched for studies reporting the outcome of pregnancies complicated by placental chorioangioma. Inclusion criteria were singleton pregnancy diagnosed with placental chorioangioma on prenatal ultrasound, with no other associated structural anomaly. The primary outcome was perinatal mortality. Secondary outcomes included associated non-structural anomalies detected on prenatal ultrasound (including fetal hydrops, anemia, polyhydramnios, signs of hyperdynamic circulation and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetus), SGA at birth, composite neonatal morbidity and preterm birth. Outcome was assessed separately in pregnancies undergoing and those not undergoing fetal therapy. Subanalyses were performed according to the presence of hydrops and the size of the tumor in all pregnancies diagnosed with chorioangioma. Random-effects meta-analyses of proportions were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies (161 pregnancies) were included. In pregnancies complicated by chorioangioma that did not undergo intervention, intrauterine death occurred in 8.2% (95% CI, 3.8-15.0%), while neonatal death and perinatal death occurred in 3.8% (95% CI, 1.0-8.1%) and 11.1% (95% CI, 5.0-19.4%), respectively. SGA at birth was present in 24.0% (95% CI, 13.5-36.5%) of cases, while preterm birth < 37 weeks complicated 34.1% (95% CI, 21.1-48.3%) of pregnancies. Composite neonatal morbidity occurred in 12.0% (95% CI, 4.5-22.3%) of cases. On ultrasound, signs of fetal hyperdynamic circulation were present in 21.0% (95% CI, 9.6-35.3%) of cases, while peak systolic velocity in the fetal middle cerebral artery was increased in 20.6% (95% CI, 10.9-32.3%). Subanalysis according to the size of chorioangioma, including both pregnancies that did and those that did not undergo intervention, showed a progressive increase in the occurrence of most of the outcomes explored with increasing size of the tumor. Furthermore, the prevalence of adverse perinatal outcome was high in pregnancies complicated by chorioangioma presenting with fetal hydrops. There was no randomized controlled trial comparing intervention vs expectant management in pregnancies complicated by chorioangioma with signs of fetal compromise (hydrops or hyperdynamic circulation). Overall, perinatal mortality occurred in 31.2% (95% CI, 18.1-46.1%) of fetuses undergoing in-utero therapy, and 57.3% (95% CI, 39.2-74.4%) had resolution of hydrops or hyperdynamic circulation after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Placental chorioangioma is associated with adverse perinatal outcome. The size of the mass and presence of fetal hydrops are likely to be the main determinants of perinatal outcome in affected pregnancies. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prenatal identification of invasive placentation using magnetic resonance imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess systematically the performance of prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosing the presence, degree and topography of disorders of invasive placentation and to explore the role of the different MRI signs in predicting these disorders. The diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound and MRI in the detection of invasive placentation was also compared. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and The Cochrane Library, including The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, were searched electronically utilizing combinations of the relevant medical subject heading terms, keywords and word variants for 'invasive placentation' and 'magnetic resonance imaging'. Only prospective studies reporting a diagnosis of invasive placentation at the time of MRI and retrospective studies in which the radiologist was blinded to the final results were included in the analysis. The MRI signs explored were: uterine bulging, heterogeneous signal intensity, dark intraplacental bands on T2 weighted sequences, focal interruption of the myometrium and tenting of the bladder. Summary estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+, LR-) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were based, depending on the number of studies, upon DerSimonian-Laird random-effect or hierarchical summary receiver-operating characteristics models. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies involving 1010 pregnancies at risk for invasive placentation were included. The overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI in detecting the presence of invasive placentation was: sensitivity, 94.4% (95% CI, 86.0-97.9%); specificity, 84.0% (95% CI, 76.0-89.8%); LR+, 5.91 (95% CI, 3.73-9.39); LR-, 0.07 (95% CI, 0.02-0.18); DOR, 89.0 (95% CI, 22.8-348.1). MRI had a high predictive accuracy in assessing both the depth and topography of placental invasion. All five MRI signs showed good predictive accuracy in the diagnosis of disorders of invasive placentation. There was no difference in either the sensitivity (P = 0.24) or the specificity (P = 0.91) between ultrasound and MRI for the detection of invasive placentation. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal MRI is highly accurate in diagnosing disorders of invasive placentation. Ultrasound and MRI have comparable predictive accuracy. Large population-based studies are needed in order to assess whether ultrasound can predict the depth and topography of placental invasion as reliably as can MRI.

Fetal and placental vascular tumors: persistent fetal hyperdynamic status predisposes to poorer long-term neurodevelopmental outcome.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between fetal hemodynamic changes seen in the presence of vascular tumors of fetal or placental origin and risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. METHODS: All cases of placental chorioangioma, sacrococcygeal teratoma and pulmonary sequestration during a 10-year period were included. Ultrasound data and pregnancy and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed in this cohort. A survival analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the cardiovascular profile score (CVPS) and adverse pregnancy outcome. RESULTS: There were 56 fetal or placental tumors, including 28 chorioangiomas, 10 sacrococcygeal teratomas and 18 pulmonary sequestrations, diagnosed at a median gestation of 23 + 3 weeks. Abnormal CVPS (≤ 8) was seen in 30% of sacrococcygeal teratomas and in 46% of chorioangiomas, but in none of the pulmonary sequestration cases. Adverse pregnancy outcome occurred in 11 cases (three stillbirths, three neonatal deaths and five cases of developmental delay) and only in those cases in which the tumors were associated with a CVPS of ≤ 8. CONCLUSIONS: Certain fetal and placental vascular tumors are associated with cardiac dysfunction in fetal life. When the CVPS is low (≤ 8), these cases are at increased risk of both fetal/neonatal demise as well as overt long-term neurodevelopmental disability. The long-term neurodevelopmental outcome should be formally and prospectively assessed in cases of fetal and placental vascular tumors.

Prenatal identification of invasive placentation using ultrasound: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The accuracy of prospective sonographic prenatal detection of invasive placentation is unclear. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the performance of ultrasound in at-risk women for prenatal identification of invasive placentation. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched using the search terms 'placenta accreta', 'placenta increta', 'placenta percreta', 'ultrasound', 'magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)', 'invasive placenta' and 'infiltrative placenta'. Two authors independently abstracted data from the articles. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR-), the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and their 95% CIs for each study were calculated. Forest plots and summary receiver-operating characteristics curves were produced. Between-study heterogeneity was explored both graphically and statistically. The MOOSE (meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology) guidelines were followed. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies involving 3707 pregnancies at risk for invasive placentation were included. The overall performance of ultrasound for the antenatal detection of invasive placentation was as follows: sensitivity, 90.72 (95% CI, 87.2-93.6)%; specificity, 96.94 (95% CI, 96.3-97.5)%; LR+, 11.01 (95% CI, 6.1-20.0); LR-, 0.16 (95% CI, 0.11-0.23); and DOR, 98.59 (95% CI, 48.8-199.0). Among the different ultrasound signs, color Doppler had the best predictive accuracy (sensitivity, 90.74 (95% CI, 85.2-94.7)%; specificity, 87.68 (95% CI, 84.6-90.4)%; LR+, 7.77 (95% CI, 3.3-18.4); LR-, 0.17 (95% CI, 0.10-0.29); and DOR, 69.02 (95% CI, 22.8-208.9)). CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound has a high accuracy for prenatal diagnosis of disorders of invasive placentation in high-risk women. The use of color Doppler improves the test performance.

The effect of the contents of exomphalos and nuchal translucency at 11-14 weeks on the likelihood of associated chromosomal abnormality.

OBJECTIVES: Previous publications suggest that exomphalos containing the liver as less likely to be associated with aneuploidy. The objective of the study was to explore the influence of exomphalos contents and nuchal translucency (NT) on the likelihood of aneuploidy. METHODS: A retrospective search was conducted to identify all cases of exomphalos from the databases of two fetal medicine units seen from September 2000 to March 2011. RESULTS: A total of 95 fetuses with exomphalos were selected. NT was normal in 42 fetuses (44.2%). The exomphalos content was bowel alone in 68 (71.6%). The effect of exomphalos content and NT on likelihood of aneuploidy was explored using logistic regression. It showed no significant contribution of exomphalos content on the likelihood of aneuploidy (adjusted odds ratio: 1.44, 95% CI: 0.538 to 3.84). CONCLUSIONS: When the diagnosis is made in the first trimester, the risk of aneuploidy is no different when the sac contains only bowel as compared with when it contains the liver. Increase in the NT is 4-5 times as likely with an abnormal karyotype as with normal NT. Detection of exomphalos in the first trimester warrants an offer of chromosomal assessment regardless of sac contents or NT.

Relationship of first-trimester uterine artery Doppler to late stillbirth.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate if increased first-trimester uterine artery Doppler resistance indices (RI) are related to stillbirth. METHOD: Uterine artery Doppler indices were assessed prospectively during a routine first-trimester ultrasound scan. Patients were categorised as having a high uterine artery mean Doppler RI if the index was above the 90th centile for gestation. Stillbirth outcomes were ascertained from a mandatory national register of pregnancy losses. RESULTS: High RI uterine artery Doppler (>90th centile) was an independent risk factor for late (≥ 34 weeks) but not early stillbirth, with a hazard ratio of 2.61 (95% CI 1.13-6.03). The inclusion of uterine artery Doppler indices into Cox proportional hazard model negated the influence of conventional risk factors for stillbirth, such as parity, maternal age and body mass index (BMI), but not Afro-Caribbean ethnicity or smoking. CONCLUSION: High first-trimester uterine artery Doppler RI is associated with late stillbirth after 34 weeks' gestation. This association supersedes those of conventional risk factors such as maternal age, parity and BMI, implying that these factors result in an increased risk of stillbirth by causing placental dysfunction.