What significance do placental lakes have in early pregnancy?

Question

I am an ultrasound tech, and I scanned my sister in law who is Rh -, her placenta looked thickened, and she also had a placental lake. She is only 15 wk 5 d. Should I be worried, or is this insignificant?

Answer 1

I am an ob/gyn and can help you out a little on your question.

A thickened placenta and placenta lakes USUALLY don't mean anything at all. Sometimes, in early pregnancy, the placenta isn't fully grown so it can look misleadingly odd.

But sometimes, it can be a sign of either hydrops, which can occur in Rh negative woman or a sign of a chromosomal abnormality.

First of all, has your sister-in-law had an antibody screen this pregnancy? It is a blood test that is routinely done as part of all of the pregnancy bloodwork to see if there are any unusual antibodies. If that is negative, then you don't need to worry about hydrops (which is fetal anemia due to maternal antibodies that attack the baby).

In terms of chromosomal abnormalities, there are many ways to assess for these, including various blood tests and amniocentesis. What I would recommend --- have your sister-in-law get an official level 2 ultrasound with a high-risk ob specialist and if that physician agrees that the placenta appears abnormal, it probably would be wise to get the amniocentesis.

Best of luck to your sister-in-law and hopefully, everything will turn out completely NORMAL...

Answer 2

I was just researching this for another question posted on this site. Here is what I found:

"Placental lakes are seen on scans as black areas on the surface or deeper inside the placenta (see image, below), and are actually pools of blood. You can see the placenta in the image below above the baby on the front wall of the womb, and the three small black areas on the surface of the placenta are lakes.

There have been one or two cases reported where very large placental lakes were thought to be associated with poor placental function (Jauniaux and Nicolaides 1996: 141-4), but it is now known that almost all placentas have one or more lakes by the third trimester, and they don't seem to affect the baby in any way.

A recent study found that placental lakes were more common in thicker placentas. There appeared to be no association with placental abruption (bleeding from the placenta during pregnancy), high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia, premature labour, small babies or stillbirths (Thompson et al 2002).

Because it would seem placental lakes are so common and have no significance, most sonographers do not report them, or even mention them to women."

So see the image they have referenced, go to the following site.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/referencedarticles/pregnancy/placentallake/

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What significance do placental lakes have in early pregnancy?
I am an ultrasound tech, and I scanned my sister in law who is Rh -, her placenta looked thickened, and she also had a placental lake. She is only 15 wk 5 d. Should I be worried, or is this insignificant?

Answer 4

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Answer 5

What a really good question. I found a really helpful article. All should be fine for both baby and mom.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/referencedarticles/pregnancy/placentallake/

Have a great day!

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/ayknF

Oh yes - it is very common - and it seems to continue throughout the rest of the pregnancy! eek!