Checking the health and location of the placenta in the uterus is an important part of pregnancy, and one of the reasons why expectant mothers receive ultrasounds and other tests. Because the placenta provides oxygen and food to the fetus, it is critically important to the fetus’s development and survival. Different injuries to the placenta, such as abruption, insufficiency, and previa can have significant and long lasting effects on both the child’s health and the mother’s health.
Understanding placental injury causes is crucial in order to prevent these injuries from occurring in the future and properly educating mothers about the risks of different behaviors and actions. Reducing placental injuries result in safer deliveries and healthier newborns.
Placental Injury Causes – Placental Abruption
Placental abruption, when the placenta partly or completely detaches from the uterine wall, presents serious risks to the child and the mother. This type of placental injury causes loss of nutrients for the child and increased bleeding in the mother. If undetected, the child may stop receiving oxygen and food and suffer permanent brain damage.
Placental injury causes related to abruption include physical trauma, premature rupturing of the amniotic membranes and low blood pressure and bleeding disorders. Physical traumas such as falls, strikes to the abdomen, and car accidents are very dangerous because they can injure the fetus and cause the placenta to fall away from the uterine wall. When amniotic membranes are ruptured, the amniotic fluid flows out of the uterus, and sends a signal to the placenta that the baby is coming out. This causes the placenta to detach before the baby is fully developed and ready for birth.
Bleeding disorders and high blood pressure are less understood than other causes. Though research has definitely linked them to increased risk of abruption, the scientific community does not yet understand why these conditions cause the placenta to detach.
Placental Injury Causes – Placental Insufficiency
If the placenta becomes damaged or fails to develop, it may not be able to provide the nutrients that a fetus needs in order to grow in the womb. There are many different reasons why placental insufficiency may occur, and considering that this condition is connected to maternal blood flow, many of the causes are related to blood disorders and other problems.
For example, high blood pressure, whether it’s caused by hypertension or preeclampsia, can negatively affect the placenta’s development. In addition, blood clotting disorders, medications that thin the blood and anemia also have the potential to cause placental insufficiency.
The medical community is still working to understand how placental insufficiency is related to other placental injuries. In some cases, placental abruption seems to be caused by placental insufficiency when the blood flow and vascular system becomes substantially weakened. In other examples, the detachment of the placenta during abruption seems to be the cause of the insufficiency. It is possible that both placental injuries contribute to the effects of the other.
Placental Injury Causes – Placenta Previa
When the placenta develops at the base of the uterus and blocks a portion or the entirety of the cervix, it is known as placenta previa. This can result in heavy bleeding in the mother’s uterus and also makes traditional delivery difficult or impossible. C-sections are often used if there is a significant case of placenta previa.
There are many different causes of placenta previa. Though many placentas attach at the lower section of the uterus, they normally move up the uterus as they grow larger and the uterus stretches to accommodate the developing fetus. Sometimes an abnormally large fetus or multiple pregnancies cause the placenta to remain in a lower position and result in placenta previa. Uterine scarring and maternal smoking are other causes of placenta previa.
