Premature aging of the placenta: causes, consequences and ways of treatment

The placenta (baby's place) is a unique organ that has been incomplete for nine months. The fact is that it is formed only by the 12th day of embryo development. Through the placenta for the intrauterine period, there is such an amount of nutrients that are enough to form a new life.

Of course, the children's place performs a great many functions, which are very important for the development of the child and for the mother's organism. Our task is to describe the most important and stop at such a threatening pathology as premature aging of the placenta.

The initial function of this organ is the role of a link between the mother and child organism. The placenta carries out transportation of all useful substances (amino acids, proteins, fatty acids, fats, carbohydrates), oxygen, vitamins and microelements. The mother also gets some useful items to replenish her stock. So, through the placenta to the woman hormones act, which stimulate a normal course of pregnancy.

In addition to transporting oxygen, it also performs the opposite function - it removes carbon dioxide and metabolic products from the body of the baby. However, the placenta acts as a barrier to toxins and harmful substances. They can not easily penetrate the children's place. The barrier function still stimulates the protection of the maternal organism from fetal antigens.

The aging of the placenta, that is, its natural development, occurs gradually. After all, it is formed on the twelfth day, mutating with the development of the fetus: it develops, changes its structural features, grows with the baby. According to this, four degrees of maturity of the placenta are distinguished, the presence of which can be determined by performing an ultrasound study. Each of them must correspond to a certain period of pregnancy.

However, sometimes there is premature aging of the placenta, which is characterized by its rapid development, which does not correspond to the timing of gestation. For example, sometimes the second degree of its maturation begins before the 32nd week, and the third - before the 36th.

As you know, there are a number of reasons that stimulate the development of this pathology:

- if a woman has made abortions in the past;

- complications during past births;

- the aging of the placenta can develop in the presence of diseases of the endocrine system (for example, diabetes mellitus);

- chronic pathologies in the work and development of the cardiovascular system;

- liver disease (hepatitis and others);

- diseases of the genitourinary system, chronic inflammation.

Often, premature aging of the placenta may occur in the presence of intrauterine infection, Rhesus-conflict (when the mother and child have different Rh factors), HIV infection, epilepsy, and those women who have unhealthy lifestyles: drink, smoke, use drugs .

The old placenta can lead to:

- the fact that a woman can not bear a child or does not deliver it to her due date;

- premature discharge of amniotic fluid;

- fetal hypotrophy;

- premature detachment of the placenta.

However, do not panic if you are diagnosed with "premature aging of the placenta". The treatment of this problem is very effective, and doctors have several of its possible options, the choice of which depends on the specific situation. A woman with this pathology should regularly visit a gynecologist and carefully follow the doctor's recommendations. Sometimes there is a need to go to a hospital to save a pregnancy. Before giving birth, a woman with this pathology is hospitalized before the due date. At observance of all recommendations the woman worn out the child and gives birth to the healthy kid.