Aim: To investigate whether vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization flow index (VFI) correlate with the pathological structure of the placenta and whether there were any differences in VI, FI, VFI, and placental pathological structure between the normal and preeclampsia (PE) groups.
Methods: Fifty-five pregnant women (normal group, n = 27; PE group, n = 28) underwent VI, FI, and VFI at four locations in the placenta during the second and third trimesters. Two hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained specimens of the postpartum placenta were prepared. We randomly selected two of these locations and used ImageJ, an open-source image package, to quantify intervillous blood vessels (IBV), intervillous spaces (IS), and intervillous blood vessels + intervillous spaces (IBV + IS) per unit placenta and analyzed their correlation with VI, FI, and VFI.
Results: There was no positive correlation between VI, FI, VFI, IBV, IS, and IBV + IS. There were no significant differences in VI, FI, and VFI between the normal and PE groups; however, there were significant differences in IBV, IS, and IBV + IS in the PE group compared to those in the normal group.
Conclusions: Placental hemodynamics measured by VI, FI, and VFI were not positively correlated with placental morphology in the third trimester. There were no differences in the VI, FI, and VFI in the third trimester between the normal and PE groups, suggesting that these may reflect placental circulatory insufficiency.
Keywords: preeclampsia; ultrasound.
© 2022 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.