Placental Histopathologic Findings in the Setting of Prenatally Diagnosed Major Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

Objectives: Studies suggest an association between placenta and congenital heart disease (CHD). We evaluated placental pathologies associated with major CHD. Methods: A prospective study included fetuses with major CHD, identified by fetal echocardiography. Fetal Doppler of umbilical artery (UA), middle cerebral artery (MCA), and placental histopathology were assessed. Outcome was measured by mortality at one month of age. Results: 21 cases were analyzed. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome was the commonest lesion (23.8%). Significant differences were detected among categories regarding MCA systolic/diastolic (S/D) ratio & pulsatility index (p = 0.023; 0.036), respectively. Placental histopathologies were demonstrated in 18(85.7%), predominately involved fetal malperfusion lesions 16/21(76.2%), especially chorangiosis (33.3%). No significant association was detected between placental histopathological abnormalities and Doppler parameter, diagnostic category, or mortality. Conclusion: The high prevalence of abnormal placental histopathological findings in major fetal CHD provides additional evidence of placental-cardiac interlinkage. No association was detected between abnormal placental histopathology and fetal Doppler measurements or neonatal outcome of CHD.

Keywords:

• Placental histopathology
• prenatal
• Congenital Heart Diseases

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent from all participants (pregnant women and parents/legally authorized representatives of the neonates) was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethical standards

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national guidelines on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008, and has been approved by the Institutional Research Board

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.