Purpose or Case Report: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of placental shear wave velocity and differences of placental elasticity between intra-uterine growth restriction(IUGR) and normal pregnancies.
Methods & Materials: The study included 42 pregnant women with a diagnosis of IUGR based on obstetrical grayscale and Doppler ultrasonography and 42 women with a normal pregnancy in the second or third. Patients with a posteriorly located placenta were excluded. All patients initailly underwent obstetrical grayscale and Doppler ultrasonography with measurement of resistivity and pultasility indices from uterine arteries. Elasticity values of the peripheral and central part of the placentas were measured with shear-wave elastography (SWE) imaging. Following delivery, Apgar scores at 1st and 5th minute, birth weight were collected. For statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney U test was used. ROC curves were plotted and cut-off values for elasticity values were calculated.
Results: Median elasticity values of central part of placenta from maternal (28 kPa vs 6 kPa) and fetal sides (21.5 kPa vs 5 kPa) of the placentas were significantly higher in IUGR pregnancies compared to the control group . Similarly median elasticity values of peripheral part of placenta from maternal (22 kPa vs 5.35 kPa) and fetal sides (22.5 kPa vs 5.3 kPa) of the placentas were significantly higher in IUGR pregnancies compared to the control group. Area under the receiver operator characteristic curve values for these variables were 0.955, 0.950, 0.942, and 0.954, respectively. A significant negative correlation was found between birth weight and placental elasticity values.
Conclusions: Placental stiffness values are significantly higher in patients with IUGR. SWE can be used as a non-invasive, complementary method for diagnosing and estimating the severity of IUGR.