ASSESSMENT OF PLACENTAL THICKNESS IN WOMEN IN THE SECOND AND THIRD

TRIMESTERS OF PREGNANCY

 

Nuriyeva A.A.

 

A. Aliyev Azerbaijan State Institute of Advanced Medical Education Department of Radiology. Baku, Azerbaijan.

I

n clinical practice, accurately assessing placental volume can be challenging; in such cases, measuring placental thickness at the level of the umbilical cord insertion may serve as a reliable marker for evaluating placental growth.

Purpose. To determine the characteristics of placental thickness at various gestational ages using ultrasound diagnostics.

Materials and methods. The study included 200 pregnant women. Age, date of last menstrual period, parity, body mass index (BMI) and medical history were recorded for all participants. Ultrasound examinations were performed transabdominally using a convex transducer with a frequency of 1–7 MHz. Placental thickness was measured at the level of the umbilical cord insertion in millimeters, from the echogenic chorionic plate to the interface between the myometrium and placenta.

Results and discussion. A total of 92 (46.0%) women were in the second trimester and 108 (54.0%) were in the third trimester. The mean age was 27.5 ± 2.6 years, and the mean BMI was 28.4 ± 2.7 kg/m². The majority of participants (77%) were between 26 and 35 years old. Most pregnancies were between 21 and 40 weeks of gestation, and 60.5% of women had a BMI in the overweight range (25.0–29.9 kg/m²). Primiparous women comprised 52.5% of the cohort. The placenta was most often located on the anterior uterine wall (49.5%), followed by posterior (39.5%) and fundal (11.0%) locations. The mean placental thickness was 21.22 ± 3.85 mm (range: 12–30 mm) in the second trimester and 32.69 ± 4.61 mm (range: 22–43.02 mm) in the third trimester. A clear positive correlation was found between placental thickness and gestational age.

Conclusion. The observed trend of increasing placental thickness with advancing gestation supports the rationale for routine measurement of this parameter during ultrasound examinations of pregnant women. Future multicenter studies are recommended to refine normative placental thickness values for different populations and to assess its prognostic significance in pregnancy complications.

 

Keywords: pregnant women, placenta, thickness, ultrasound diagnostics, uterus.

 

Corresponding author: Nuriyeva A.A., e-mail: Этот e-mail адрес защищен от спам-ботов, для его просмотра у Вас должен быть включен Javascript

 

For citation: Nuriyeva A.A. Assessment of placental thickness in women in the second and third

trimesters of pregnancy. REJR 2025; 15(3):155-162. DOI: 10.21569/2222-7415-2025-15-3-155-162.

Received:        13.09.25                 Accepted: 30.10.25