[Placental histopathological changes in gestational hypertension]

Preeclampsia develops after a partial disorder in the process of placental formation, perhaps due to a deficiency of the trophoblast invasion by its spiral arteries and acute aterosis in its miometrial segments. It has not been reported if these changes also appear in placentas of women with gestational hypertension without proteinuria.

To describe histopathological changes in the placenta of patients with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.

Cross-sectional study carried out in 138 patients divided into three groups: 46 with normotensive pregnancy (A group or control), 46 with gestational hypertension (group B), and 46 with preeclampsia (group C). There were registered sociodemographic and clinical variables; and the histopathological study of the placenta was performed. Mean, standard error and percentages were used. We calculated analysis of variance for comparing groups and linear regression for determining correlation between histopathological changes and blood pressure (it was assigned an alpha value of 0.05).

There were more histopathological changes in groups of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia compared with controls (p < 0.01). Most frequent changes in all groups were: sincitial hyperplasia and fibrin deposits around the villi. There was correlation between histopathological changes and blood pressure (r= 0.27, p <0.01).

There are more histopathological changes in placentas of women with hypertensive disease; number of histopathological changes is correlated with the severity of hypertension.