Microscopic Morphometry in Placentas of Pregnant Women with Severe Preeclampsia at Term of Pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction: The placenta is a transient maternal fetus organ, vital for the correct evolution of pregnancy. The quantification of placental development in preeclampsia is essential for the study and understanding of this disease during pregnancy.
Objective: To morphometrically describe the microscopic development in placentas of pregnant women with severe preeclampsia at term of pregnancy.
Methods: A study was carried out on a series of cases whose universe included the placentas of 51 pregnant women with diagnosis of severe preeclampsia and delivery by cesarean section at Vladimir Ilich Lenin Hospital in Holguín, Cuba, from May 2019 to May 2020. Non-probabilistic and intentional sampling and consisted of 16 placentas with normal morphological appearance that met the
defined inclusion criteria. Placental tissue was processed by the paraffin embedding method, transversely sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The histological preparations were digitized with a camera coupled to the stereoscope. The ImageJ morphometric system allowed the quantification of the selected variables. For statistical processing, descriptive statistical methods
were used, such as analysis of variance and Newman Keuls test.
Results: The quantitative study at the perichord level and the periphery of the placental disc showed significant differences for the villus area and the optical density of fibrin around the villus. The average values in the area of the syncytial nodes did not show statistically significant differences.
Conclusions: Microscopic morphometry of placentas in pregnant women with preeclampsia allows us to quantify the effects of arterial hypertension on the placental tissue, contributing to the histopathological characterization of the placenta and offering important guidelines in the study of gestational diseases such as preeclampsia.