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Placenta Accreta

A Rare but Serious
Pregnancy Complication

Placenta accreta affects a small percentage of women and can seriously endanger the life of the mother. This condition occurs when the placenta, which is responsible for delivering nutrients, and oxygen to the growing fetus, attaches too deeply into the uterine wall, making it difficult to separate the placenta after childbirth.

In a normal delivery, the placenta detaches from the uterine wall and is delivered after the baby. With Placenta Accreta, we might see hemorrhaging from the attempts to remove the placenta and even the uterus to prevent further blood loss and save the mother’s life.

The cause is unknown, but it is often associated with previous cesarean deliveries or other uterine surgeries, and women who have placenta previa are also at increased risk. Age can also be another factor with an increase in risk after 35 yrs old.

However, there are cases where mothers have had none of these risk factors, highlighting the importance of early detection efforts to rule out this condition.

Managing Placenta Accreta

Placenta accreta can sometimes be diagnosed during routine prenatal ultrasounds. If your healthcare provider suspects placenta accreta, they may refer you to a high-risk pregnancy specialist for further evaluation and monitoring.

As of recently, NX Prenatal and its partners have published their first-in-field peer-reviewed data indicating the ability to detect Placenta Accreta cases from maternal plasma at a median 24-26 week time point with 83% accuracy.

This can help pregnant mothers schedule cesarean deliveries or early deliveries to minimize the risk of bleeding and prevent further complications.

List of Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • H.Y. Yu, D.E. Cantonwine. D.A. Carusi, P. Gurnani, K.P. Rosenblatt, T.F. McElrath, Circulating microparticle proteins predict pregnancies complicated by placenta accreta spectrum, 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine – The Pregnancy Meeting, Oral Plenary Session II February 4, 2022
  • Yu, H.Y., Gumusoglu, S.B., Cantonwine, D.E. et al. Circulating microparticle proteins predict pregnancies complicated by placenta accreta spectrum. Sci Rep 12, 21922 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24869-0
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