Placenta Accreta : A Real Threat in Multiple Cesareans

I came across this video this past week after Jill from the website The Unnecesarean posted it on her facebook page. Of course I have heard about placenta accreta, but the more I discussed this with my circle on twitter, facebook, an in real life, some of the mothers I know were unaware of the risk that placenta accreta, and possibly placenta percreta pose to future pregnancies.

But what exactly is placenta accreta and percreta, and why is it such a problem? Both are life threatening to the mother, and carry serious risks including hysterectomy, and death if not handled properly. In the above news article, it discusses 40 women who died as a result in New Jersey alone last year from these type of complications.

Placenta accreta is when the placenta grows too deeply into the uterine wall and even sometimes through the uterine wall causing more extensive damage. In the cases of these placental problems a repeat cesarean section is the only method of safe delivery, because of the surgical process that will be needed to remove the placenta. These are the problems that can happen, and are listed in the possible risks of a cesarean delivery under “future placental problems”.

According to ACOG, the risk goes up with each c-section:

# of c-sections % accreta

1 0.3

2 0.6

3 2.1

4 2.3

5 or more 6.7

Certainly some food for thought in mothers who have one or more previous cesarean births when deciding the size of their family.

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5 comments

tags: accreta, c-sections, cesaran, complications, dangers, percreta, Placenta, problems
category: Uncategorized

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1

By: TheFeministBreeder Twitter: @feministbreeder

In the case that we had here, the placenta not only grew through the uterine wall, but extended like tree roots through the body and wrapped itself around the vena cava.

The mother and baby were lost at 26 weeks gestation. Nothing they could do. I always wondered why they hadn’t caught this on the ultrasound but apparently it’s hard to detect, which is the scariest concept I can think of when it comes to carrying any pregnancy after a cesarean. The fact that this could be growing like a ticking timebomb in each of us is horrifying. Along with the risks of the placenta abnormality actually happening, they should also list the high rate of maternal and fetal death from such complication – far greater than any uterine rupture statistics. Isn’t it funny, though, that they just leave that out of the conversation when consulting (pushing) women into unnecesareans?

2

By: Maya Twitter: @MarfMom

this is irrelevant to the post, so feel free to delete it after you read, but i tried to DM you and twitter says your account no longer exists. i’ve been talking with mama pear designs directly about the t-shirt though, which is why i forgot to DM you my info till tonight, since she contacted me right afterwards to get the information.
Maya´s last [type] ..Friday Favorites

3

By: Brooke Twitter: @milkmaidmomma

As a c-section mom, I worry more about acreta with my current pregnancy than I worry about rupture. Thanks for discussing this!

5

By: Scareddaddy

This is very real and very scary. My wife had accreta and they had to move to hysterectomy during the birth at 38 weeks. Seemed fine for a few hours until the “cavity” walls that once held a baby and uterus and all the other mommy parts started bleeding. My wife was rushed back into the OR where she was looked over to find the source of bleeding. None found, so they “packed her” and left her open until the next day when they could run CT scans. Once that was negative, they closed her back up confident the bleeding stopped, which so far 5 days later it has. She (all of us) are extremely lucky she is still alive. I share this story to inform people to make sure they are delivering with skilled doctors who have experience with accreta. Also, and just as important, you need to be at a huge hospital with huge blood supplies. My wife went through 20 units of blood, thank the Lord we were at a major downtown hospital familiar with all kinds of trauma. Delivering with doctors not familiar with accreta or at a small regional hospital could kill you if you suspect you have accreta. God bless, -Scareddaddy

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Cesarean Rates, Placenta Accreta, and Maternal Mortality | Being Pregnant

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