Andrew Markel – amarkel@tulane.edu
Tulane University
6823 Saint Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States
Popular version of 5aBA3 – Quantitative Ultrasound-Based Characterization of Placental Microstructure During Preeclampsia
Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting
Read the abstract at https://eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?page=IntHtml&project=ASAICA25&id=3868638&server=eppro01.ativ.me
–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–
Preeclampsia is a life-threatening pregnancy disorder that currently has no cure and is a significant cause of death for expecting mothers and their babies worldwide. A recent study by researchers at Tulane University and Weill Cornell Medicine has shown that quantitative ultrasound imaging of the placenta may help doctors detect preeclampsia earlier. Through this collaboration, the researchers discovered a connection between quantitative ultrasound images and the size of biological structures in the placenta. This preliminary study in rats also saw a significant difference between normal and preeclamptic placentas using quantitative ultrasound (Figure 1, bottom row), opening the door for potential applications in human medicine.
During normal pregnancies, the placenta delivers nutrients from the mother to the fetus and undergoes microscopic changes in its structure that allow it to deliver more nutrients as the fetus grows larger. For women with preeclampsia, the placenta fails to develop correctly, resulting in significant microstructural changes that cause high blood pressure, birth defects, and organ failure. The only way that doctors can alleviate the mother’s symptoms from preeclampsia is by delivering the baby and placenta early, which puts the baby at risk for developing complications associated with premature birth.
Ultrasound imaging is the most common method that doctors use to monitor pregnancies, but the ultrasound imaging methods currently used in clinics cannot detect the microstructural changes in the placenta that occur during preeclampsia (Figure 1, top row). Instead, preeclampsia is often detected when the mother has already developed high blood pressure and kidney failure, which can lead to further heart and kidney disease complications in the mother, even after the baby and placenta are delivered. Doctors need a better way to monitor the placenta for preeclampsia so that they can better understand how the disease develops and diagnose at risk women earlier.
Quantitative ultrasound imaging methods apply mathematical models of sound interactions and statistics to quantify the microscopic structural elements’ size, structure, and organization in human organs. With quantitative ultrasound, doctors will be able to diagnose diseases that would be impossible to detect using current ultrasound imaging methods. So, researchers studying the placenta in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University decided to team up with researchers developing quantitative ultrasound algorithms in the Department of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine to investigate how quantitative ultrasound could help to diagnose preeclampsia. The research team is currently conducting a pilot study with human placentas after birth to determine how quantitative ultrasound images can help doctors diagnose preeclampsia in the clinic. Earlier diagnosis of preeclampsia could have a major impact on the way that doctors study and treat the disease, potentially saving the lives of thousands of women and children all around the world.