Out of all of the conditions that can sometimes accompany pregnancy, those involving injuries to the placenta can be the most dangerous and the ones for the most cause for concern. Out of all of these, the condition that arguably has the most potential for harm to both the mother and the child is known as placental insufficiency. The fact that the symptoms of placental insufficiency are often completely invisible is even more cause for concern.
Why Placental Insufficiency Is So Bad
Sometimes known as utero-placental insufficiency, the condition is caused when the blood flow to the placenta isn’t strong or plentiful enough to provide enough oxygen and other nutrients to the child over the course of its development. Because of this, sometimes other placental injuries may occur – in many cases, a placental abruption, which is when the placenta detaches either partially or completely from the uterine wall, may occur. The symptoms of a placental abruption, which include mild to moderate bleeding from the vagina, may be the only clue that there might be placental insufficiency at work as well.
Risk Factors for Placental Insufficiency
There’s no known definitive cause when it comes to placental insufficiency. However, as with many other placental injuries, there are certain factors that increase a pregnant mother’s risk for developing placental insufficiency. Many of these risk factors are shared across several different possible placental injuries like placental abruptions or placenta previa, a condition that causes the placenta to block the cervix.
Bad habits such as smoking while pregnant or taking hard drugs such as cocaine during pregnancy have been linked to a higher incidence rate of placental insufficiency. Also, other conditions such as preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, can also play a role in the development of the condition. A pregnant woman who goes past her due date or who suffers from diabetes is also at heightened risk for developing placental insufficiency.
Spotting Placental Insufficiency
Since there are few actual symptoms that can be detected when it comes to placental insufficiency, most pregnant women will not know if they suffer from the condition until it is revealed in one of the regular obstetrical exams that she undergoes prior to the child’s due date. Her health care provider will take pains to measure the size of the uterus on every visit, only calling for additional tests if it’s not increasing properly. If such a discovery is made, the health care provider and the pregnant mother will discuss treatment options.
As there’s no way to increase the ability of the placenta to provide proper nutrition or oxygen to a developing child, there are few definitive ways to treat placental insufficiency that don’t involve inducing labor. However, this is only appropriate for mothers that have reached at least 37 weeks in their gestation cycle. Women who are less far along on their pregnancy will have to wait until then, and are often counseled that bed rest is likely to be the best way to reduce possible injury to the child. These injuries can be quite severe, leading to the kind of neurological damage that can affect a child’s cognition, lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, or leave the child susceptible to seizure disorders such as epilepsy.
It’s for these reasons preventing the development of placental insufficiency by avoiding as many risk factors as possible is so important for pregnant mothers, whether this means maintaining strict control on their diabetes or high blood pressure or not indulging in drugs like tobacco, alcohol, or any other legal or illegal substances.
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