What causes a thick placenta?

Thick placenta is a common physical condition for women during pregnancy. Thick placenta can have a great impact on the health and development of the baby. There are many reasons for thick placenta. Generally, it is due to long-term fatigue of pregnant women, or pregnant women suffering from diabetes. It is easy to cause this symptom. It is necessary to do prenatal check-ups in time to understand the development of the fetus.

What causes a thick placenta?

There are many reasons for the thick placenta, including excessive amniotic fluid, multiple births, gestational hypertension, maternal diabetes, macrosomia, etc.

Pay attention to rest, do not overwork, pay attention to nutrition, eat a reasonable diet, eat more vegetables and fruits, eat more nutritious foods, avoid spicy and irritating foods, and do regular pregnancy checkups.

Placenta function

The placenta is a transitional organ that grows from the embryo's embryonic membrane and the mother's endometrium during pregnancy in metatherian and eutherian mammals and is used to exchange substances between mother and child. The fetus develops in the uterus and relies on the placenta to obtain nutrition from the mother, while both parties maintain a considerable degree of independence. The placenta also produces a variety of hormones to maintain pregnancy and is an important endocrine organ.

Some reptiles and fish also reproduce by giving birth to their offspring live. The embryo grows some auxiliary structures such as yolk sac and gill filaments that are closely integrated with the maternal tissues to achieve the exchange of substances between mother and child. This structure is called a pseudoplacenta.

There are two independent circulatory systems in the placenta, one for the fetus and the other for the mother (even if it develops to the sinusoidal endothelial type, such as in the late rabbit embryo, there is still a layer of endothelial cells separating the two sides). The chorion can be regarded as a semipermeable membrane, and the area in which all the villi are in contact with the maternal blood is 7 to 14 square meters; when the maternal blood flows in the gaps between the villi and the fetal blood flows in the villi, substances can be exchanged.

Ultrasound grading of the placenta

Placental ultrasound grading is one of the important indicators for evaluating placental function. The placenta is divided into four grades, namely 0, I, II, and III, according to the echo and morphology of the chorionic plate, placental parenchyma and basal plate at different stages of pregnancy. This is a method that relies on the different grayscales of ultrasound images to make judgments with the naked eye. It is somewhat subjective and there are certain differences between different operators.

Placenta thickness

The normal [full-term] placental thickness measured by B-ultrasound is 3.6-3.8 cm, usually not exceeding 5 cm. Under abnormal circumstances, the placenta may be enlarged. Conditions such as blood type incompatibility and diabetes can cause the placenta to be thicker than 5cm. Placental thickening generally indicates complications of the pregnant woman or abnormalities in the growth of the fetus in the uterus. (The normal thickness of the placenta during pregnancy should be between 25 and 50 mm) The membranous placenta is characterized by a large and thin placenta, which is prone to bleeding in the second trimester of pregnancy. If the placenta is small, it can lead to intrauterine growth retardation of the fetus and low birth weight at full term.