My name is Jennie. I'm a wife and a mother. I have been married to the man of my dreams, Trever, for 9 wonderful years. We have 5 beautiful daughters who fill our lives with joy and excitement. We just had our 6th child. Our son Caleb.

I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Placenta Accreta along with Placenta Previa. Accreta is a condition where the placenta attaches to the scar tissue in the uterus. It will often continue to grow to deeper tissue (increta) and even through the uterus attaching to other organs(percreta). I ended up having an 11 hour surgery, including a hystorectomy, and bladder repair. I received 7 units of blood and blood parts. (This is a lot of blood loss for my surgeons, but minimal blood loss to those who are not as experienced in these deliveries. I spent 36 hours in the ICU after surgery. I have also had many other complications afterwards including another minor surgery 2 weeks later. These complications are somewhat normal for the type of surgery I had.

I had a team of specialists doing my surgery. Obgyns, Gyno-oncologists, trauma surgeons, urologists and anesthesiologists. This team has specialized in techniques helping with minimal blood loss. Those with accreta , loose large amounts of blood because the placenta cannot detach naturally at delivery.

My goal is to help save women's lives by giving this terrible condition a voice. So many are ignorant to its fatal attack. Doctors and women alike, need to be educated about Accreta. Many have never even heard of it. The numbers are on the rise because of so many women choosing to have c-sections when it isn't necessary. Not all women can avoid it, but many can. Please help me give Accreta a voice, by sharing the information in this blog. (There are numerous posts with information on Accreta as well as the Accreta team who took such great care of me.)

Saturday, March 16, 2013

What exactly is placenta accreta? (part 1 of 2)


I am not sure Jennie or I have have completely explained or described what placenta accreta is and why it is so rare and dangerous.  I attempted to make some basic drawings to better describe the condition in relation to the mother (in this case the uterus) and the fetus (mainly the placenta).

The drawing below demonstrates the proper relation between the placenta and the layer of the uterus that it is normally supposed to bond with to create the placental barrier.  The endometrium is easily regenerated and the amount of nutrients etc. are regulated by hormones.  This is the layer that is sloughed off (usually monthly) during the cyclical pattern of hormones.

Normal placenta and endometrium

The following graphic is a representation of a placenta accreta situation.  The thin endometrial base layer nearest the muscle layer gives rise to the regenerating endometrium to replace the sloughed off layer, and after implantation, thickens the endometrium to better provide for the placenta.  Since the endometrium is designed to remove itself from the base layer after birth, blood loss is ususally minimal.  When the placenta covers an area that had previous scar tissue such as resulting from a Cesarean section, DNC, or something else, this base layer of cells is no longer there, there is no layer specially created for the reception of the embryo or the placenta.  During development in placenta accreta, the fetal placenta will bind with the scar tissue in stead of the nutrient rich endometrium.  Severe hemorrhaging will most likely occur once the placenta pulls away from the scar tissue.

Placenta accreta example
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)