MRI of the Placenta Deepens Our Understanding of Pregnancy Complications

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MRI of the Placenta Deepens Our Understanding of Pregnancy Complications

Using the latest wide-bore magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning equipment, a group of researchers found that differences in blood flow in the placenta may play a role in the development of pre-eclampsia.

The scientists scanned 34 women with healthy pregnancies and 13 women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and found that blood flow in the placenta of the healthy women was slow. In the women with pre-eclampsia, the team found that the pattern of flow was much more variable, which may explain why babies born to these women are often smaller and delivered before term.