The early sonographic appearance of placenta accreta

Objective. To determine whether any sonographic findings in the first trimester predict placenta accreta. Methods. Patients who had a diagnosis of placenta accreta, increta, or percreta by clinical course or pathologic examination of the uterus and who had had a sonographic examination at 10 weeks or earlier were included in this study. Results. Seven patients met the study criteria. In 6 of these, who had had at least 1 previous cesarean delivery the gestational sac was located in the lower uterine segment at the time of the early scan. Two of these pregnancies failed shortly after the early scan, and the patients underwent dilation and curettage, at which time severe bleeding necessitated a hysterectomy. The other 4 continued to term but had sonographic findings typical of placenta accreta during subsequent scans. In the seventh patient (who had had no previous cesarean deliveries), the gestational sac was located in the uterine fundus. Conclusions. In a patient with a previous cesarean delivery, a sac lying in the lower uterine segment on a scan at 10 weeks or earlier suggests the possibility of placenta accreta.