Morphology and Morphometry study of placenta in pregnancy induced hypertension and its comparison with that of normal pregnancies

Pregnancy complications like hypertension or gestational diabetes are reflected macroscopically and microscopically in the placenta. Placental morphologic changes vary substantially in pre-eclampsia and eclampsia that affects the growth of foetus. In pregnancy induced hypertension, there is increased resistance to utero-placental circulation which adversely affects the growth of placenta, which ultimately results in unfavorable outcome of pregnancy. The present study was undertaken to evaluate various gross pathological changes in placentae of pregnancy induced hypertension. These pathological changes were compared with placentae of normal healthy cases. In the study, it is found that the weight, circumference and thickness of placenta were significantly decreased in PIH as compared to the control. The mean minimum distance of cut edge of membrane from margin of placenta and the width of umbilical cord at insertion point on surface of placenta in PIH group was decreased significantly as compared to the control group. It may be attributed to hamper the growth of fetus.