Relationship Between Placental Calcification and Estimated Fetal Weight Percentile at 30-34 Weeks of Pregnancy

The identification of at-risk fetus is considered as one of the most difficult challenges for clinicians and researchers although the clinical significance of placental calcifications (PCs) and its relation to adverse pregnancy outcome are controversial. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between PC and estimated fetal weight (EFW) percentile at 30-34 weeks of pregnancy.

This prospective cross-sectional study was carried out on all pregnant women except for multiple pregnancy subjects who were admitted to an outpatient perinatal center from October 2016 to September 2018. Several parameters were measured at 30-34 weeks of pregnancy, including EFW, umbilical artery pulsatility index (PI), middle cerebral artery PI, cerebroplacental ratio (CPR), right and left uterine artery PI, along with right and left uterine artery notch. Finally, the calcification of the placenta with any shape and degree was determined as well.

In this study, 739 pregnant women were evaluated for PC, including patients with PC (9.87%), small-for-gestational age (SGA, 3.65%), and those with at least one abnormal Doppler index (23.95%). Patients with PC and those with at least one abnormal Doppler index had significantly higher SGA (29.62% and 12.42%, respectively). In addition, there were 55.55% and 30.13% patients with SGA and PC in the group with at least one abnormality in terms of Doppler indices.

In general, the findings showed that PC is more common in SGA. Based on the results, at least one abnormality in Doppler indices was more common in PC and SGA, and uterine artery Doppler abnormality was the most prevalent abnormal findings in the arterial Doppler. Thus, PC may be an important marker for adverse pregnancy outcomes.