title: Prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta and percreta with ultrasonography, color Doppler, and magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The risk of placenta previa and accreta is increased in females with previous cesarean deliveries, and there has been an increasing number of these operations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present 2 cases with previous cesarean and placenta previa in the following pregnancy. One patient had placenta accreta and the other, placenta percreta. In both cases, prenatal diagnosis was based on ultrasonography, where features such as loss of the hypoechoic retroplacental zone and irregular uterine serosa were found in grayscale ultrasonography. In color Doppler imaging, in both cases, increased vascularity between myometrium and placenta, as well as intraplacental lacunae, were seen. Thinning of the uterine wall, found in magnetic resonance imaging, contributed to the diagnosis of placenta percreta.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta is of importance because it reduces fetal and maternal morbidity as appropriate preoperative and perioperative procedures are possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hyvinkää Hospital, Hyvinkää, Finland. pekka.taipale@hus.fi
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taipale
authors.forename: Maija-Riitta
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Orden
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Manninen
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alafuzoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010921:Placenta Accreta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal