Histomorphological Changes in Placentae of Pre- Eclamptic Mothers with Reference to Vasculosyncytial Membrane Thickness and Syncytial Knot Formation

Background: To study the histomorphologicalchanges in placentae of pre-eclamptic mothers and tocompare them with placentae of normotensivemothers.Methods: In this comparative study, hundredplacentae were taken and divided into two groups.Normotensive group included placentae frommothers having normal blood pressure andhypertensive group included placentae from mothershaving pre-eclampsia. Placentae were fixed innormal saline for 48 hours. After fixation theplacentae were divided into four quadrants and 5mmtissue was taken from the center of upper right andlower left quadrants. After tissue processing andstaining, the histomorphological changes werestudied in both normotensive and hypertensivegroups.Results: The number of terminal villi wereincreased in hypertensive group. The quantitativedifference between number of syncytial knots andvillous membrane thickness in normotensive andhypertensive groups was statistically significant .Conclusion: Increased number of syncytial knotswas observed along with increased thickness ofvasculosyncytial membrane in hypertensive group ascompared to normotensive group that may be thecause or effect of placental hypoxi