Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Placental pathology and intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm and small for gestational age infants

Abstract

Objective:

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between chorioamnionitis and vascular malperfusion on placental pathology and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in premature and small for gestational age (SGA) infants.

Study design:

A retrospective analysis of 263 infants ≤34 weeks gestation or ≤1800 g and their mothers was conducted by chart review for placental pathology and clinical data from 2014 to 2018. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (OR) for the association of placental pathology with IVH were calculated.

Result:

Unadjusted OR showed an association between acute chorioamnionitis and IVH, but logistic regression analysis showed a non-significant adjusted OR between acute or chronic chorioamnionitis with IVH. Maternal vascular malperfusion was significantly associated with increased IVH when controlling for confounders.

Conclusion:

Placental maternal vascular malperfusion is associated with the development of IVH in premature and SGA infants when controlling for other confounders.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Inclusion and exclusion criteria of infants.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Woods L, Perez-Garcia V, Hemberger M. Regulation of placental development and its impact on fetal growth- new insights from mouse models. Front Endocrinol. 2018;9:570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Martin RJ, Fanaroff AA, Walsh MC. Fanaroff & Martin’s neonatal-perinatal medicine. 11th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; c2020.

  3. Guttmacher AE, Maddox YT, Spong CY. The human placenta project: placental structure, development, and function in real time. Placenta. 2014;35:303–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Roescher AM, Timmer A, Erwich JJHM, Bos AF. Placental pathology, perinatal death, neonatal outcome, and neurologic development: a systematic review. PLoS ONE. 2014;9:e89419.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Catov JM, Scifres CM, Caritis SN, Bertolet M, Larkin J, Parks WT. Neonatal outcomes following preterm birth classified according to placental features. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017;216:411.e11–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chisholm KM, Heerema-McKenney A, Tian L, Rajani AK, Saria S, Koller D, et al. Correlation of preterm infant illness severity with placental histology. Placenta. 2016;39:61–69.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Volpe JJ. Volpe’s neurology of the newborn. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Vergani P, Patamé L, Doria P, Borroni C, Cappellini A, Pezzullo JC, et al. Risk factor for neonatal intraventricular heamorrhage in spontaneous prematurity at 32 weeks gestation or less. Placenta. 2000;21:402–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dexter SC, Pinar H, Malee M, Hogan J, Carpenter MW, Vohr BR. Outcome of very low birth weight infants with histopathologic chorioamnionitis. Obstet Gynecol. 2000;96:172–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. De Felice C, Toni P, Laurini RN, Stumpo M, Enrico P, Todros T, et al. Early neonatal brain injury in histologic chorioamnionitis. J Pediatr. 2001;138:101–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Grafe MR. The correlation of prenatal brain damage with placental pathology. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1994;53:407–15.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Dexter SC, Malee MP, Pinar H, Hogan JW, Carpenter MW, Vohr BR. Influence of chorioamnionitis on developmental outcome in very low birth weight infants. Obstet Gynecol. 1999;94:267–73.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Salafia CM, Minior VK, Rosenkrantz TS, Pezzullo JC, Popek EJ, Cusick W, et al. Maternal, placental and neonatal associations with early germinal matrix/intraventricular hemorrhage in infants born before 32 weeks’ gestation. Am J Perinatol. 1995;12:429–36.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Harteman JC, Nikkles PGJ, Kwee A, Groenendaal F, de Vries LS. Patterns of placental pathology in preterm infants with a periventricular haemorrhagic infarction: association with time of onset and clinical presentation. Placenta. 2012;33:839–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Redline RW, Wilson-Costello D, Borawski E, Fanaroff AA, Hack M. The relationship between placental and other perinatal risk factors for neurologic impairment in very low birth weight children. Pediatr Res. 2000;47:721–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Zanardo V, Vedovato S, Suppiej A, Trevisanuto D, Migliore M, Di Venosa B, et al. Histological inflammatory responses in the placenta and early neonatal brain injury. Pediatr Dev Pathol. 2008;11:350–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. DiSalvo D. The correlation between placental pathology and intraventricular hemorrhage in the preterm infant. The developmental epidemiology network investigators. Pediatr Res. 1998;43:15–19.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Vergani P, Patane L, Doria P, Borroni C, Cappellini A, Pezzullo JC, et al. Risk factors for neonatal intraventricular heamorrhage in spontaneous prematurity at 32 weeks gestation or less. Placenta. 2000;21:402–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Arayici S, Kadioglu Simsek G, Oncel MY, Eras Z, Canpolat FE, Oguz SS, et al. The effect of histologic chorioamnionitis on the short-term outcome of preterm infants. J Matern-Fetal Neonatal Med. 2004;27:1129–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Ogunyemi D, Murillo M, Jackson U, Hunter N, Alperson B. The relationship between placental histopathology findings and perinatal outcome in preterm infants. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2003;13:102–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Soraisham AS, Singhal N, McMillian DD, Sauve RS, Lee SK. Canadian Neonatal Network. A multicenter study on the clinical outcome of chorioamnionitis in preterm infants. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2009;200:372.e1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Gagliardi L, Rusconi, Da Fre M, Mello G, Carnielli V, Di Lallo D, et al. Pregnancy disorders leading to very preterm birth influence neonatal outcomes: results of the population-based ACTION cohort study. Pediatr Res. 2013;73:794–801.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Papile LA, Burstein J, Burstein R, Koffler H. Incidence and evolution of subependymal and intraventricular hemorrhage: a study of infants with birth weights less than 1,500 gm. J Pediatr. 1978;92:529–34.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Khong TY, Mooney EE, Ariel I, Balmus NCM, Boyd TK, Brundler M, et al. Sampling and definitions of placental lesions Amsterdam placental workshop group consensus statement. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2016;140:698–713.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Redline RW. Classification of placental lesions. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2015;213:S21–S28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Benton SJ, Lafreiere AJ, Gryspan D, Bainbridge SA. A synoptic framework and future directions for placental pathology reporting. Placenta. 2019;77:45–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Leviton A, Allred EN, Dammann O, Engelke S, Fichorova R, Hirtz D, et al. Systemic inflammation, intraventricular hemorrhage, and white matter injury. J Child Neurol. 2013;28:1637–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Dammann O, Leviton A. Maternal intrauterine infection, cytokines, and brain damage in the preterm newborn. Pediatr Res. 1997;42:1–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Yanowitz TD, Jordan JA, Gilmour CH, Towbin R, Bowen AD, Roberts JM, et al. Hemodynamic disturbances in premature infants born after chorioamnionitis: association with cord blood cytokine concentrations. Pediatr Res. 2002;51:310–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Rivest S. Molecular insights on the cerebral innate immune system. Brain Behav Immun. 2003;17:13–19.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. McAdams RM, Juul SE. The role of cytokines and inflammatory cells in perinatal brain injury. Neurol Res Int. 2012;2:561494.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Stanimirovic D, Satoh K. Inflammatory mediators of cerebral endothelium: a role in ischemic brain inflammation. Brain Pathol. 2000;10:113–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Molina-Holgado E, Molina-Holgado F. Mending the broken brain: neuroimmune interactions in neurogenesis. J Neurochem. 2010;114:1277–90.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Villamor-Martinez E, Fumagalli M, Rahim OM, Passera S, Cavallaro G, Degraeuwe P, et al. Chorioamnionitis is a risk factor for Intraventricular Hemorrhage in preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Physiol. 2018;9:1253.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Alexander JM, Gilstrap LC, Cox SM, McIntire DM, Leveno KJ. Clinical chorioamnionitis and the prognosis for very low birth weight infants. Obstet Gynecol. 1998;91:725–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Sarkar S, Kaplan C, Wiswell TE, Spitzer AR. Histological chorioamnionitis and the risk of early intraventricular hemorrhage in infants born < or = 28 weeks gestation. J Perinatol. 2005;25:749–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Mehta R, Nanjundaswamy S, Shen-Schwarz S, Petrova A. Neonatal morbidity and placental pathology. Indian J Pediatr. 2006;73:25–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Martinez E, Figueroa R, Garry D, Visintainer P, Patel K, Verma U, et al. Elevated amniotic fluid Interleukin-6 as a predictor of neonatal periventricular leukomalacia and intraventricular hemorrhage. J Matern Fetal Investig. 1998;8(Sep):101–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Babnik J, Stucin-Gantar I, Kornhauser-Cerar L, Sinkovec J, Wraber B, Derganc M. Intrauterine inflammation and the onset of peri-intraventricular hemorrhage in premature infants. Biol Neonate. 2006;90:113–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Morales WJ. The effect of chorioamnionitis on the developmental outcome of preterm infants at one year. Obstet Gynecol. 1987;70:183–6.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Nasef N, Shabaan AE, Schurr P, Iaboni D, Choudhury J, Church P, et al. Effect of clinical and histological chorioamnionitis on the outcome of preterm infants. Am J Perinatol. 2013;30:59–68.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Ment LR, Oh W, Philip AGS, Ehrenkranz RA, Duncan CC, Allan W, et al. Risk factor for early intraventricular hemorrhage in low birth weight infants. J Pediatr. 1992;121:776–83.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Perrone S, Toti P, Toti MS, Badii S, Becucci E, Gatti MG. Perinatal outcome and placental histological characteristics: a single-center study. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2012;25:110–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Redline RW, Pappin A. Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy; the clinical significance of extensive avascular villi. Hum Pathol. 1995;26:80–85.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Saleemuddin A, Tantbirojn P, Sirois K, Crum CP, Boyd TK, Tworoger S, et al. Obstetric and prenatal complications in placentas with fetal thrombotic vasculopathy. Pediatr Dev Pathol. 2012;13:459–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Ment LR, Aden U, Bauer CR, Bada HS, Carlo WA, Kaiser JR, et al. Genes and environment in neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage. Semin Perinatol. 2015;39:592–603.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Moscuzza F, Belcari F, Nardini V, Bartoli A, Domenici C, Cuttano A, et al. Correlation between placental histopathology and fetal/neonatal outcome: chorioamnionitis and funisitis are associated to intraventricular haemorrage and retinopathy of prematurity in preterm newborns. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2011;27:319–23.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

MAO contributed to the concept and design of the study, performed chart review/data collection, performed data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. SB contributed to the concept and design of the study, performed placental pathology data review, and revised the manuscript. MM contributed to the design of the study, performed data analysis, and helped write the manuscript. AAP contributed to the concept and design of the study and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa A. Oh.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The George Washington University Committee on Human Research International Review Board (IRB) approved this study (IRB# 041826). The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Oh, M.A., Barak, S., Mohamed, M. et al. Placental pathology and intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm and small for gestational age infants. J Perinatol 41, 843–849 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-00954-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-00954-6

Search

Quick links