Comparison of diameter-based and image-based measures of surface area from gross placental pathology for use in epidemiologic studies

Alexa A Freedman; Lauren M Kipling; Katie Labgold; Carmen J Marsit; Carol J Hogue; Augustine Rajakumar; Alicia K Smith; Halit Pinar; Deborah L Conway; Radek Bukowski; Michael W Varner; Robert L Goldenberg; Donald J Dudley; Carolyn Drews-Botsch

doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2018.07.013

Comparison of diameter-based and image-based measures of surface area from gross placental pathology for use in epidemiologic studies

Placenta. 2018 Sep:69:82-85. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2018.07.013. Epub 2018 Jul 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: alexa.freedman@emory.edu.
² Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI, USA.
⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Women's Health, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.

Abstract

Placental surface area is often estimated using diameter measurements. However, as many placentas are not elliptical, we were interested in the validity of these estimates. We compared placental surface area from images for 491 singletons from the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN) Study (416 live births, 75 stillbirths) to estimates obtained using diameter measurements. Placental images and diameters were obtained from pathologic assessments conducted for the SCRN Study and images were analyzed using ImageJ software. On average, diameter-based measures underestimated surface area by -5.58% (95% confidence interval: -30.23, 19.07); results were consistent for normal and abnormal shapes. The association between surface area and birthweight was similar for both measures. Thus, diameter-based surface area can be used to estimate placental surface area.

Keywords: Assumption; Placental surface area; Validation.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Female
Fetal Death*
Humans
Live Birth*
Organ Size
Placenta / diagnostic imaging
Placenta / pathology*
Pregnancy
Reproducibility of Results
Stillbirth*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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