Role of Doppler US and MRI in diagnosis of placenta accreta

The aim of this work is to evaluate the role of Doppler US and MRI in the diagnosis ofplacenta accreta.Patients and methods: During period between 2012 to 2013, 120 pregnant patients with previouscesarean section were investigated by ultrasound and Doppler and then in suspected cases MRIwas obtained (10 cases). The Sonographic and MRI diagnoses were compared with the final pathologicor operative findings or with both.Results: The mean age of this study group was 29 years ranging from 20 to 40. Among patientswith confirmed placenta accreta, the mean age was 32.25 ranging from 25 to 40 years. The meanparity of patients ranged from 1 to 6 with a mean of 1.6. Among patients with placenta accreta,the mean parity ranged from 2 to 6 with a mean of 3.75. The total number of cases with placentaaccreta in this study was 4, all of which were previa. This was out of a total of 25 cases of placentaprevia. Transabdominal US features were the presence of intraplacental lacunae (sonolucencies),loss of retroplacental clear zone and disruption of bladder–uterine serosa interface with smallestmyometrial thickness 1 mm over site of placental implantation by using color Dopplerultrasonography, the most prominent color Doppler feature in this study was the presence ofintraplacental lacunar flow. Magnetic resonance imaging accurately predicted placenta accreta in4 of 4 cases with placenta accreta and correctly ruled out placenta accreta in the rest six cases.Conclusion: In conclusion, data of the present study show that the use of transabdominal colorDoppler ultrasonography complemented by MRI in suspected cases improves the diagnosticaccuracy in prediction of placenta accreta in patients with previous cesarean delivery.